dehumanise

D2E1H4U1M3A1N1I1S1E1

A form of dehumanize — To take away humanity; to remove or deny human qualities, characteristics, or attributes; to impersonalize.

Similar
Scrabble 16

Meanings

verbdehumanise (third-person singular simple present dehumanises, present participle dehumanising, simple past and past participle dehumanised)

present singular third person dehumanises · participle present dehumanising · participle past dehumanised · past dehumanised

  1. UKnonstandardNon-Oxford British English standard spelling of dehumanize.

    A Melbourne woman says she feels “dehumanised” after being filmed without consent for a “random act of kindness” TikTok that went viral.

    2022 July 14, Rafqa Touma, “Melbourne woman ‘dehumanised’ by viral TikTok filmed without her consent”, in The Guardian
    3 more examples

    Point is, this “she-bagging” phenomenon doesn’t happen in a vacuum, devoid of context — it happens in a culture that routinely dehumanises women and disrespects their wish or need for personal space.

    2015 June 28, Sophie Warnes, “On “manspreading” & “she-bagging””, in Medium, archived from the original on 25 May 2022

    Almost 1,000 references to dehumanising misogyny or violent action are recorded each day in the “incelosphere” as the toxicity of male supremacist content continues to intensify.

    2022 October 30, Mark Townsend, “Experts fear rising global ‘incel’ culture could provoke terrorism”, in The Guardian, retrieved 03 Dec 2023

    RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said the news that more than 315,000 responses had been received to the ticket office closure consultation revealed "how strongly the travelling public feel about plans to dehumanise the rail network", and the "mass public opposition" to the Government and operators' proposals.

    2023 August 23, “Network News: Lynch: "dehumanising of our railways"”, in RAIL, number 990, page 8

Synonyms & antonyms

verbdeprive of human qualities

Similar

verbmake mechanical or routine

Similar
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*de
  2. Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
  3. Proto-Italic*dē
  4. Latindē
  5. Latindē-
  6. Englishde-
  7. Latinhūmānu
  8. Old Frenchumain
  9. Middle Frenchhumain
  10. Middle Englishhumayne
  11. Englishhuman
  12. Englishhumanise
  13. Englishdehumanise

From de- + humanise.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

dehumanise. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dehumanise

MLA

“dehumanise.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dehumanise. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dehumanise,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dehumanise.

Source: dehumanise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.