Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb UK Alternative form of dehumanize.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb deprive of human qualities
  • verb make mechanical or routine

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Countries have always attempted to 'dehumanise' opponents see WWII cartoon depictions of 'the hun' in a war in an attempt to make brutal realities somewhat more palettable - in a front line standoff, this is fine - shoot anything that moves 'over there'.

    A Big Stick and a Small Carrot Garry 2006

  • He told the TRC's amnesty committee in Pretoria that he had often told staff who worked under him that the best way of dealing with enemy targets was to "dehumanise" them.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1998

  • Corporations dehumanise the people they absorb for profits.

    Drugs, Fish, & General Depression 2009

  • Corporations dehumanise the people they absorb for profits.

    Drugs, Fish, & General Depression 2009

  • And I think that there are already plenty of pejoratives available to cis (non-trans) people to marginalise and dehumanise us, without handing them further ammunition.

    A rose by any other name 2008

  • And I think that there are already plenty of pejoratives available to cis (non-trans) people to marginalise and dehumanise us, without handing them further ammunition.

    A rose by any other name 2008

  • It is difficult to believe that the Taliban brand of Islam can dehumanise a person to such an extent - making him insensitive to even the sublimest of art form ….

    What Will Happen to Ancient Art in the Taliban’s Swat? 2009

  • Until he does that, you feel that sermons in St Paul's are only going to dehumanise him more.

    Gordon Brown, Charlie Whelan and Me 2009

  • As we have become a grossly unequal country, we demonise and dehumanise the poor to salve our soiled consciences.

    Johann Hari: Am I Sick To Love Horror Movies? 2009

  • Until he does that, you feel that sermons in St Paul's are only going to dehumanise him more.

    Brown delivers his G20 sermon 2009

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