as in to humiliate
to make (someone) feel or behave more like an animal than a human being
being deprived of clothes dehumanized the prisoners
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Recent Examples of dehumanize
It’s often used to criminalize us, dehumanize us.
—
Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 17 Oct. 2025
Some of these deportation efforts have been purposefully dehumanizing, like the opening of Alligator Alcatraz.
—William D. Lopez, Time, 29 Sep. 2025
The oversimplification of a complex developmental difference that exists on a spectrum of many different abilities and experiences is dehumanizing at best and dangerous at its worst, autism experts, advocacy groups and members of the community told USA TODAY.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 22 Sep. 2025
These aren’t random acts of violence—they’re the inevitable endpoint of a culture that has normalized dehumanizing those who express perspectives that differ from our own.
—Margie Warrell, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dehumanize
Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 17 Oct. 2025
Some of these deportation efforts have been purposefully dehumanizing, like the opening of Alligator Alcatraz.
—William D. Lopez, Time, 29 Sep. 2025
The oversimplification of a complex developmental difference that exists on a spectrum of many different abilities and experiences is dehumanizing at best and dangerous at its worst, autism experts, advocacy groups and members of the community told USA TODAY.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 22 Sep. 2025
These aren’t random acts of violence—they’re the inevitable endpoint of a culture that has normalized dehumanizing those who express perspectives that differ from our own.
—Margie Warrell, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dehumanize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dehumanize
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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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
Verb
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According to other accounts, some white residents believed Makandal and his allies were behind a plot to poison the water supply in all the houses in the city of Le Cap.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Jan. 2026
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In a recent study, however, researchers at Yale found that interoception helped mice avoid poisoning themselves.—
The New York Times News Service Syndicate,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
30 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dehumanize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dehumanize. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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