humanize

verb

hu·​man·​ize ˈhyü-mə-ˌnīz  ˈyü- 

variants also British humanise

humanized; humanizing; humanizes

transitive verb

1

a

: to represent (something) as human : to attribute human qualities to (something)

Much as we try, we can't stop humanizing our horses.

—Jeffrey Kluger

b

: to address or portray (someone) in a way that emphasizes that person's humanity or individuality

My goal, long before my father ever became homeless, was to humanize those who lived on the streets.

—Diana Kim

c(1)

: to include or increase human interaction in (something, such as a process or place)

[Stan] Lowe said he's proud of the increased use of alternative-dispute resolution for the type of complaint that can be informally resolved between an officer and a member of the public. … "It humanizes the experience from both perspectives. It really does repair a relationship, but you're doing it one relationship at a time."

—Louise Dickson

(2)

: to adapt (something) to human nature or use

In this period of rapid change, the city began putting money back into the neighborhood. Over time, there was a conscious effort to invest in humanizing the landscape, including the reinstallation of the now-famous seven steel arches and street trees.

—Kaylee Harter and Shanti Lerner

The fact is, cats play different predatory roles in different natural and humanized landscapes.

—William S. Lynn

2

: to make (something) humane : soften, civilize

Lincoln forged a new lean language to humanize and redeem the first modern war.

—Gary Wills

3

a

: to cause (a nonhuman organism or one of its parts) to include components (such as cells, tissues, or genes) of human origin or to produce human substances or components (such as insulin)

It's OK to mess with a creature's "simple" parts—the plumbing in its gut, let's say—but we're risking moral crisis when we start to humanize its neural tissue.

—Daniel Engber

But other forms of humanized mice, such as mice engineered to have a human immune system, are routine laboratory animals that seem to occasion little angst.

—Nicholas Wade

These "humanized" cells were then removed and cloned with tumor cells to make a cell line that produced pure human monoclonal antibodies, the researchers said.

—Warren E. Leary

b

: to modify (a nonhuman antibody) by genetic engineering to contain mainly human protein sequences

Monoclonals are made by cultivating antibody-producing cells in the immune system of mice, extracting them from the animals' spleen, and then going through an elaborate process to "humanize" the antibodies to avoid immune reactions in human patients.

—Gary Stix

We're using mice to make humanized antibodies that produce cancer drugs.

—William Saletan

humanization

ˌhyü-mə-nə-ˈzā-shən  ˌyü- 

noun

humanizer noun

Examples of humanize in a Sentence

The new publicity has helped to humanize the corporation's image.

They promised to humanize conditions at the company.

Recent Examples on the Web

One useful way to humanize a company is to dive deeper into the personalities at work. —Nancy Marshall, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2024

These films feel like a statement, even a movement, by mostly female filmmakers to tell highly personal stories that nonetheless are implicit social critiques, not just embracing the forbidden but humanizing what too often has been treated with comical disdain. —Robyn Bahr, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Dec. 2024

Although Awakenings brought Sacks public attention (and eventually a Hollywood movie), his greatest success came after the publication of 1985’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, a volume of clinical tales that humanized people with serious neurological disorders. —Michael S. Roth, The Atlantic, 16 Dec. 2024

Stories also humanize an otherwise transactional and impersonal context. —Dr. Eric George, Forbes, 13 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1603, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

humanize

verb

hu·​man·​ize ˈhyü-mə-ˌnīz 

ˈyü-

humanized; humanizing

1

: to make suitable for human nature or use

2

: to make humane : civilize, refine

humanization

ˌhyü-mə-nə-ˈzā-shən 

ˌyü-

noun

Medical Definition

humanize

transitive verb

hu·​man·​ize

variants also British humanise

ˈhyü-mə-ˌnīz  ˈyü- 

humanized also British humanised; humanizing also British humanising

1

: to cause (a nonhuman organism or one of its parts) to include a component (as cells, tissues, or genes) of human origin or to produce human substances or components (as insulin)

Previous attempts at "humanizing" mouse livers have taken weeks or months for the human liver cells to latch onto and expand in the mouse liver, the NIH [National Institutes of Health] reports.

—Howard Lovy, FierceBiotech

"Humanized" mice with human blood-producing stem cells …

—Tina Hesman Saey, Science News

2

: to modify (a nonhuman antibody) by genetic engineering to contain mainly human protein sequences

… it is important to humanize these antibodies for human therapeutic purposes without impacting their binding affinity towards antigen targets.

—Vinh Dang et al., Clinical and Developmental Immunology

Dr. Joe Conner, a scientist with Viragen who conducted the experiments, explained that "humanizing an antibody requires removing most of the non-human regions of the protein by genetic engineering and replacing them with equivalent human components."

—Anthony J. Brown, Reuters Health Medical News

Trastuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody whose antigen-binding domain Fab recognizes a tyrosine kinase receptor … that is overexpressed in some breast cancers, and its anticancer activity is thought to involve disruption of cell proliferation signaling through this receptor.

—Science

humanization noun

also British humanisation

ˌhyü-mə-nə-ˈzā-shən  ˌyü- 

The progressive humanization of antibodies is another success story that has enabled these versatile and exquisitely selective proteins to progress into largescale therapeutics.

—Michiel E. Ultee, Biopharm International