as in to humiliate
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 dehumanize
The red cloaks of the Handmaids — plus the bonnets and masks — are particularly dehumanizing, anonymizing, physically restrictive, and symbolically pregnant.
—
Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 13 May 2025
So disabled Americans really have a uniquely challenging position, in that they are very frequently devalued and dehumanized by the health care system.
—Dan Gorenstein, NPR, 5 May 2025
The post was a joke, and perhaps an effective one, maximizing the distance between Studio Ghibli’s tender, bittersweet, profoundly human ethos and the gleeful, dehumanizing viciousness that is Trump’s stock-in-trade.
—Jia Tolentino, New Yorker, 3 May 2025
Garcia was detained in March and deported to his native El Salvador, where he is being held in a system where human beings are routinely dehumanized.
—Colin Pascal, Baltimore Sun, 27 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dehumanize
Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 13 May 2025
So disabled Americans really have a uniquely challenging position, in that they are very frequently devalued and dehumanized by the health care system.
—Dan Gorenstein, NPR, 5 May 2025
The post was a joke, and perhaps an effective one, maximizing the distance between Studio Ghibli’s tender, bittersweet, profoundly human ethos and the gleeful, dehumanizing viciousness that is Trump’s stock-in-trade.
—Jia Tolentino, New Yorker, 3 May 2025
Garcia was detained in March and deported to his native El Salvador, where he is being held in a system where human beings are routinely dehumanized.
—Colin Pascal, Baltimore Sun, 27 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dehumanize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dehumanize
Verb
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The writer-director’s smartest move is never to deny Colin his dignity, even when he’s humiliated for disappointing Ray or getting vigorously plowed on a table.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
18 May 2025
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But who among us has not had a little marital spat over one person buying an entire hospital just to humiliate the other?—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
16 May 2025
Verb
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Then there’s Danaher, the worst of all, which has been brutalized by a lack of Chinese biotech offerings.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
16 Apr. 2025
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Brewers reliever Trevor Megill took a pretty harsh stance on the new style of bats that were used to brutalize Milwaukee's pitching.—
Ron Estes,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2025
Verb
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As the film unfolds, Wilson finds out that Sterns, the movie's villain, has been the mastermind behind the entire plot and has been poisoning Ross with gamma rays via pills for years.—
Caroline Blair,
People.com,
28 May 2025
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Intermediately, because a member of Ethan’s team, Claire (Emmanuelle Béart) has poisoned Donloe, which results in Donloe having some pretty intense gastrointestinal reactions.—
Mike Ryan,
IndieWire,
27 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dehumanize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dehumanize. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.
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