as in humiliated
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 dehumanized
In a world that often feels fragmented and dehumanized, reclaiming this universality is an ethical act.
—
Ed Meza, Variety, 16 Mar. 2026
Our past, our lives, dehumanized into numbers.
—Literary Hub, 22 Jan. 2026
The guy’s ghosting of me also dehumanized him.
—Anna Holmes, The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2025
Ed Meza, Variety, 16 Mar. 2026
Our past, our lives, dehumanized into numbers.
—Literary Hub, 22 Jan. 2026
The guy’s ghosting of me also dehumanized him.
—Anna Holmes, The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dehumanized
Verb
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At one point in his teenage years, Diaz was publicly humiliated by the football team who forcefully shaved his curly hair.—
Andrea Flores,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Mar. 2026
-
Walz and Ellison were humiliated and could not account for their blundering.—
Joe Soucheray,
Twin Cities,
7 Mar. 2026
Verb
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At night, Yusuf goes back to his village, where his family is regularly brutalized by the local authorities, led by the snarling protomillenarian Captain Wingate (played by Robert Aramayo, whom some will recognize as the young actor who scored an upset win at the BAFTAs last month for I Swear).—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
20 Mar. 2026
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Yes, that same night, beyond the hallowed walls of Prescott’s, people all across New York were being brutalized by HIV, falling dead from AIDS.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Any one of them can be poisoned.—
Deni Ellis Béchard,
Scientific American,
21 Mar. 2026
-
In Alabama, the punishment for this audacity had most often involved waking up to her family’s dogs poisoned in the night.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Dehumanized.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dehumanized. Accessed 30 Mar. 2026.
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