ANIMALLIKE Synonyms: 77 Similar and Opposite Words

animallike

adjective

Definition of animallike

as in barbaric

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Recent Examples of Synonyms for animallike

Adjective

What readers are saying The comments overwhelmingly criticize the death penalty, describing it as barbaric, cruel, and ineffective.

— Mark Berman, Washington Post, 2 Oct. 2026
The women are frequently naked, and the men are either murderous or barbaric.

— Vikram Murthi, IndieWire, 14 Sep. 2026

Definition of barbaric

Adjective

But the show repeatedly undercuts that point of view by halfway reinforcing the age-old American assumption that crime is born of poor individual choices among an uncivilized populace, not of poverty, desperation, and preservation, both self and communal.

— Andy Andersen, Vulture, 27 June 2026
Colonial technology came for his kingdom, regardless, and the forces of modernity ended up demonizing those who didn’t embrace technology as backward and uncivilized.

— Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2026

Definition of uncivilized

Adjective

The chaos in Ithaca may be political and ethical—a violation of custom—but stretches of the poem are barbarous and wild, beyond civilized life altogether.

— David Denby, New Yorker, 21 June 2026
Seeking to eliminate Berber forces in the barren mountains of northern Morocco, seven soldiers obediently follow their fanatical sergeant (Víctor Clavijo) into barbarous depths of depravity.

— Ed Meza, Variety, 16 May 2026

Definition of barbarous

Adjective

But the stage that Springer cultivated was a gleeful one, a tacky spectacle of shock and depravity, an ungodly home for the freaks who knew just what to do when the lights came on.

— Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026
South Africa also included two specialist spinner Bjorn Fortuin and Keshav Maharaj with the tacky wicket expected to suit slow bowlers later in the game.

— ABC News, ABC News, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of tacky

Adjective

Holzinger jumps into the tank, her movements inelegant and panicked, and pulls Nüganen out.

— Lauren Oyler, New Yorker, 20 July 2026
One of the more revealing patterns to emerge from the category is something known as zebra striping, a perhaps inelegant term, but a quick phrase to show the shift in highly intelligent consumer behaviour.

— Kate Hardcastle, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026

Definition of inelegant

Adjective

The government had spent the better part of a year, for instance, decentralizing its political and military bureaucracy so that provincial governors and military commanders could operate without instructions from top leaders.

— Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Foreign Affairs, 1 Oct. 2026
Mamdani and Chow swapped notes on dealing with the constraints placed on them by their state and provincial governors, and on their respective battles over renters’ rights and the high costs of living in their cities.

— Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2026

Definition of provincial

Adjective

Five months later, the Taliban militia, which had no airpower and unsophisticated weaponry, seized control of Kabul in just ten days.

— Robin Wright, New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2026
Sophisticated scams The days of thinking of scammers as unsophisticated, disjointed actors are over in 2026, according to Yoon.

— Ella Moore July 2, Miami Herald, 2 July 2026

Definition of unsophisticated

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.

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“Animallike.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/animallike. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of animallike

adjective

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