dehumanizing

adjective

de·​hu·​man·​iz·​ing (ˌ)dē-ˈ(h)yü-mə-ˌnī-ziŋ 

: depriving someone of human qualities, personality, or dignity : demeaning or damaging to a person's humanity or individuality

a dehumanizing caricature/slur

dehumanizing statistics

Before even being allowed to call a lawyer, the arrestee is faced with the dehumanizing treatment of a strip search …

—John W. Whitehead

This kind of language is deliberately dehumanizing: the athlete is referred to not as a person but as a "brand", throughout.

—Felix Salmon

Inmates at the South Carolina prison cited dehumanizing conditions such as a lack of sunlight, poor and insufficient food, and few rehabilitative programs as reasons they lost hope.

—Aaron Cantú

Not only are writers selling their products, they essentially become their products: author as commodity. It's a weirdly dehumanizing experience.

—Rachel Donadio

… the dehumanizing nastiness of having your intimate personal photos hacked …

—Joe Fay

Examples of dehumanizing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Eastwood insists on finding humanity everywhere, even in the most dehumanizing circumstances. —Keith Phipps, Vulture, 1 Nov. 2024

But there’s also something inherently creepy about the process, particularly at a time when many of us are apprehensive about screen acting going down an ever more dehumanizing digital road. —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Sicario and Traffic star Benicio Del Toro has spoken out against the dehumanizing aspect of the debate around immigration in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential elections. —Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 14 Oct. 2024

Trump’s dehumanizing rhetoric is another example of the former president trying to stoke fears about those in the country illegally. —Alexandra Banner, CNN, 8 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1817, in the meaning defined above