as in to humiliate
to make (someone) feel or behave more like an animal than a human being
men who had been bestialized by war
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bestialize
Verb
-
The candidate looks appropriately humiliated to be shouted down by a group of peaceful citizens voicing reasonable opposition, but the stakes are low.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
29 Oct. 2025 -
There was this huge peak between 2000 and about 2018 where there was a decentralized anti-Fascist movement that’s responsible for Richard Spencer going home, for Matthew Heimbach being humiliated.—
Fiction Non Fiction,
Literary Hub,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The Brit List script, which treads the line between black comedy and drama, is set in the early 20th Century Hungary where a village knitting club takes it upon themselves to poison their abusive husbands with arsenic.—
Diana Lodderhose,
Deadline,
6 Nov. 2025
-
People who are rude or unaware with receptionists can poison your culture, create unnecessary hierarchies, and drive your best people to leave.—
Jessica Neal,
CNBC,
5 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
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
Verb
-
The guy’s ghosting of me also dehumanized him.—
Anna Holmes,
The Atlantic,
20 Oct. 2025
-
It’s often used to criminalize us, dehumanize us.—
Anne Thompson,
IndieWire,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Art the Clown likes brutalizing women.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
7 Nov. 2025
-
He was fired a few years later over allegations of brutalizing a suspect in custody.—
Omar Jimenez,
CNN Money,
26 Oct. 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Bestialize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bestialize. Accessed 11 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share