animalian

comparative more animalian · superlative most animalian

1. sciencesOf the kingdom Animalia, which includes humans.

   To give an instance from the animalian side of Linnaeus's efforts, he may have classified the swift (Hirundo apus) and the swallow (Hirundo rustica) together because of general similarity … .

   1998, Sayre N. Greenfield, The Ends of Allegory, Delaware, →ISBN, page 142

   Synonyms: animalic

2. broadlyOf an animal or animals, usually including humans but sometimes connoting nonhuman nature.

   We stood before the Lord in the high-backed chair, and I saw that the wood figures of his regal throne were, of course, animalian, feline and diabolical.

   1999, Anne Rice, Vittorio the Vampire, Ballantine, published 2001, →ISBN, page 121

   Synonyms: bestial, beastly

3. broadlyrareLike that of an animal or animals, usually including humans but sometimes connoting nonhuman nature.

   His big hands clutched him about the collar of the suit that had once been fine, and he was shaking him with animalian violence, shoving him[…].

   2007, Lynn Stegner, Because a Fire Was in My Head, Nebraska, →ISBN, page 202

   1 more example

   He did not look at her because he did not wish to see that deliciously animalian slit of her mouth, naked and red, beneath the white mask that made her eyes look so feline.

   1982, Anne Rice, Cry to Heaven, Ballantine, published 1995, →ISBN, page 78

   Synonyms: bestial, beastly, animalesque, animalish, animalistic, animal-like, beastly, bestial