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
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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
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The health secretary said vegetable oils, like canola and soybean, are poisoning Americans and driving the obesity epidemic.—
Brittney Melton,
NPR,
8 July 2025
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Throughout a trial lasting more than two months, Patterson maintained the beef-and-pastry dish was accidentally poisoned with death cap mushrooms, the world’s most-lethal fungus.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
7 July 2025
Verb
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Over 24 cycles, the show humiliated hundreds of young, naïve women (and, briefly, men) in the name of entertainment.—
Emily Palmer Heller,
Vulture,
9 July 2025
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Soldatov said that along this path was the 2008 war in Georgia, which showed the Russian army would not be humiliated anymore.—
Brendan Cole,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 July 2025
Verb
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Each of us must master the art of disagreeing without dehumanizing.—
F. Willis Johnson,
Twin Cities,
10 July 2025
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Seeing how she was broken down and dehumanized through torture and isolation, definitely reflected the lengths humans will go to in order to survive.—
Lynette Rice,
Deadline,
10 July 2025
Verb
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Victims who spoke out really were emotionally brutalized.—
Pat Beall,
The Orlando Sentinel,
13 July 2025
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Prosecutors say that behind the veil of his larger-than-life public persona, Combs was for years brutalizing vulnerable women with assistance from members of a criminal enterprise, who helped to keep his victims compliant and provoke fear in anyone perceived to threaten his power and control.—
Molly Crane-Newman,
New York Daily News,
16 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Animalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/animalize. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.
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