as in to poison
to make (someone) feel or behave more like an animal than a human being
six months of solitary living in the jungle would animalize anyone
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Recent Examples of animalize
Sociologist Anthony Cortese found that in popular culture black women are often othered, animalized and exoticized, associating women of color with primitivity or wild sexuality.
—
Katie Edwards, Washington Post, 14 July 2017
Katie Edwards, Washington Post, 14 July 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for animalize
Verb
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For part of the trial of El Chapo, the city shut down the Brooklyn Bridge; his lawyers tried to move the proceedings to Philadelphia, because the jury pool was poisoned by angry commuters.—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
12 Jan. 2026
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Alice is paranoid, thinking her roommate is rearranging her shower supplies and that someone might be poisoning her food.—
Mary Ann Grossmann,
Twin Cities,
11 Jan. 2026
Verb
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And videotaping it to humiliate them.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
21 Dec. 2025
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She had never been arrested before and felt humiliated when her mugshot was plastered all over the news after her arrest.—
Grethel Aguila,
Miami Herald,
12 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Even searches for ethnic slurs hurled at Danish people — language that has historically crept into the American lexicon to dehumanize wartime enemies — come up thin.—
John C. Moritz,
Austin American Statesman,
18 Jan. 2026
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Punish her, dehumanize her as an example everyone can learn from.—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
16 Jan. 2026
Verb
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How about the Hollywood know-nothings Susan Sarandon or Mark Ruffalo, who have so much to say about the suffering of Hamas terrorists but not a peep for people being brutalized and murdered by actual terrorists?—
Bobby Zirkin,
Baltimore Sun,
8 Jan. 2026
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Much of that has to do with a shield that can repel attacks, interact with the environment and brutalize adversaries.—
Gieson Cacho,
Mercury News,
29 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Animalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/animalize. Accessed 25 Jan. 2026.
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