Meanings
plural dehumanizations · alternative UK dehumanisation
- countableuncountableThe act or process of dehumanizing.
The essence of dehumanization is not to see someone, to render him inconsequential and invisible.
2023 November 2, David Brooks, “How to Stay Sane in Brutalizing Times”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 04 Nov 20232 more examples
Lowi's concern for the rule of law tends to forget that government is not only by but for men; he substitutes an older [impersonality] for the dehumanizations of the new.
1971 August 8, Carey McWilliams, “While the cities burn, the machines click on”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 22 Sep 2024But I didn't want to talk about Claude. I wanted to talk about the user, about addiction and dehumanisation, about power and accountability.
2026 July 25, Carmody Grey, “AI’s quest for morality”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1Antonyms: humanization, anthropomorphism
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe act or process of dehumanizing.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe act of degrading people with respect to their best qualities
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From de- + humanization or dehumanize + -ation or de- + human + -ization.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic التَّجْرِيد مِن الإنْسَانِيَّة
- التَّجْرِيد مِن الإنْسَانِيَّة (at-tajrīd min al-ʔinsāniyya)the act or process of dehumanizing
Bulgarian дехуманиза́ция
- дехуманиза́ция (dehumanizácija)the act or process of dehumanizing
Catalan deshumanització
- deshumanitzacióthe act or process of dehumanizing
Chinese Mandarin 非人化
- 非人化 (fēirénhuà)the act or process of dehumanizing
Czech dehumanizace
- dehumanizacethe act or process of dehumanizing
Danish dehumanisering
- dehumaniseringthe act or process of dehumanizing
Dutch ontmenselijking
- ontmenselijkingthe act or process of dehumanizing
Estonian ebainimlikustamine
- ebainimlikustaminethe act or process of dehumanizing
Finnish epäinhimillistäminen, ihmisarvon kieltäminen
- epäinhimillistäminenthe act or process of dehumanizing
- ihmisarvon kieltäminenthe act or process of dehumanizing
French déshumanisation
- déshumanisationthe act or process of dehumanizing
German Entmenschlichung, Dehumanisation
- Entmenschlichungthe act or process of dehumanizing
- Dehumanisationthe act or process of dehumanizing
Greek απανθρωποποίηση
- απανθρωποποίηση (apanthropopoíisi)the act or process of dehumanizing
Italian disumanizzazione
- disumanizzazionethe act or process of dehumanizing
Japanese 非人間化
- 非人間化 (hiningenka)the act or process of dehumanizing
Korean 비인간화
- 비인간화 (biin'ganhwa)the act or process of dehumanizing
Norwegian Bokmål dehumanisering
- dehumaniseringthe act or process of dehumanizing
Polish dehumanizacja, odczłowieczenie
- dehumanizacjathe act or process of dehumanizing
- odczłowieczeniethe act or process of dehumanizing
Portuguese desumanização
- desumanizaçãothe act or process of dehumanizing
Romanian dezumanizare
- dezumanizarethe act or process of dehumanizing
Russian обесчелове́чивание, дегуманиза́ция
- обесчелове́чивание (obesčelovéčivanije)the act or process of dehumanizing
- дегуманиза́ция (degumanizácija)the act or process of dehumanizing
- расчелове́чивание (rasčelovéčivanije)the act or process of dehumanizing
- расчелове́чение (rasčelovéčenije)the act or process of dehumanizing
Slovak dehumanizácia
- dehumanizáciathe act or process of dehumanizing
Spanish deshumanización
- deshumanizaciónthe act or process of dehumanizing
Swedish avhumanisering
- avhumaniseringthe act or process of dehumanizing
Turkish insandışılaştırma
- insandışılaştırmathe act or process of dehumanizing
Ukrainian дегуманіза́ція, розлю́днення
- дегуманіза́ція (dehumanizácija)the act or process of dehumanizing
- розлю́днення (rozljúdnennja)the act or process of dehumanizing
Cite this entry
dehumanization. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dehumanization
“dehumanization.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dehumanization. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dehumanization,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dehumanization.
Source: dehumanization on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.