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.
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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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These operations are often controlled by cartels and poison the surrounding natural environment with toxic chemicals.Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025
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In 2015, the Tribune reported on a broader phenomenon of lead poisoning plaguing children living in some of the poorest Chicago neighborhoods.Lizzie Kane, Chicago Tribune, 16 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Illinois has the seventh-highest scoring offense in Division I, but was humiliated to 29 percent shooting, and the otherwise-excellent Kasparas Jakučionis had more turnovers (seven) than made baskets (five, on 15 tries).Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 8 Jan. 2025
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Over several years, victims were beaten, threatened and humiliated, while perpetrators befriended parents to screen them from the systemic abuse.Dan Perry, Newsweek, 4 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Black people have for centuries called for more factual reporting that reflects their actual lives, because mainstream news has long criminalized and dehumanized their communities.Anita Varma, The Conversation, 3 Jan. 2025
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Pursuing a full head of honey blonde highlights or rocking a 613 was so heavily stigmatized that Black women who experimented with lighter colors were regularly subjected to dehumanizing comments about their appearance.Tayler Adigun, Essence, 20 Dec. 2024
Verb
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And no wonder: Police, security operatives, and soldiers in Venezuela also have relatives who have been brutalized by the regime.Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 22 Dec. 2024
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Black women were among the organizers of the Alabama march in 1965 from Selma to Montgomery that preceded the federal legislation — and were among the marchers brutalized on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.Kenya Hunter, Los Angeles Times, 26 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near animalize
Cite this Entry
“Animalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/animalize. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.
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