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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
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
-
And two, baking soda is an indiscriminate weed killer that poisons the soil.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
16 May 2025
-
Years later, the toxic chemicals have poisoned Hong-rang’s body.—
Kayti Burt,
Time,
16 May 2025
Verb
-
The writer-director’s smartest move is never to deny Colin his dignity, even when he’s humiliated for disappointing Ray or getting vigorously plowed on a table.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
18 May 2025
-
But who among us has not had a little marital spat over one person buying an entire hospital just to humiliate the other?—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
16 May 2025
Verb
-
And a committed Marxist's cold-blooded murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. Wednesday night was the natural and inevitable consequence of a conscientious, years-long campaign to dehumanize Jews and otherize all supporters of the world's only Jewish state.—
Josh Hammer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
23 May 2025
-
Instead of addressing the state’s public health emergency, Georgia’s leaders have doubled down on cruel, dehumanizing policies that criminalize pregnancy and control women’s bodies.—
Jameelah Nasheed,
Essence,
21 May 2025
Verb
-
The last time a Padres bullpen was brutalized like this over a five-game stretch was in 1977.—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 May 2025
-
Here in Los Angeles, as in much of coastal California where the roads and highways are broken and brutalized due to overpopulation, a plush airbag suspension paired with this punchy hybrid powertrain would serve well, very well indeed.—
Mark Ewing,
Forbes,
22 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Animalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/animalize. Accessed 27 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share