Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To deprive of human qualities such as individuality, compassion, or civility.
- transitive verb To render mechanical and routine.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To deprive of distinctively human qualities: as, dehumanizing influences; dehumanized speculation. Also spelled
dehumanise .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To divest of human qualities, such as pity, tenderness, etc..
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To take away
humanity , to remove or denyhuman qualities, characteristics, or attributes.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb deprive of human qualities
- verb make mechanical or routine
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Does the writer really mean to suggest — nay, insist — that universities, regardless of their affiliation, "dehumanize" their employees by expecting a "certain" level of conduct?
Sports 2009
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Enforced shaving of a prisoner's head has long been a systematic tool to 'dehumanize' and 'depersonalize' an individual.
'Bush's Republican Administration Used Torture Routinely' - REPORT 2009
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Harper's: Do math and science "dehumanize" students?
CJR 2009
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"You kind of dehumanize the adult, bringing him down to the animal's level."
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"Should we no longer use the terms rapist, thief, murderer or molester because they might" dehumanize "the offender?
unknown title 2009
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And “retard” is a pejorative term used to dehumanize the mentally retarded.
Matthew Yglesias » Does Anybody Know How to Do Development? 2010
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And “retard” is a pejorative term used to dehumanize the mentally retarded.
Matthew Yglesias » Does Anybody Know How to Do Development? 2010
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I could see using them if I was writing from the POV of a character who was trying to dehumanize or objectify the character they were referring to.
January 2nd, 2009 jwjohnson 2009
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Access to the cash that power brings, completely deranged and satisfying “investigations” that both dehumanize the opposition and give that warm fuzzy feeling of standing up for “principle” (no one is above the law — even, or especially those who have done nothing in its violation) and, best of all, they get to go on demolishing any hope of using government power to solve any actual problem out there.
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(Not helped by conditioning to dehumanize the subject population by superiors.)
Comments
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