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Synonyms

animalistic

British  
/ ˈænɪməˌlɪstɪk /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or resembling an animal or animals; brutish

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Now, in the week running up to the Six Nations, he's talking in animalistic terms again.

From BBC • Feb. 3, 2026

“What we’re talking about is a much older, evolutionary, more animalistic way of understanding the social world,” says Dr. Eliska Prochazkova, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cognitive Psychology Unit of Leiden University in the Netherlands.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026

Each year, those firms become more intelligent and more omniscient about the markets, while the market mob becomes more animalistic and less focused on risks taken in pursuit of rewards.

From Barron's • Dec. 10, 2025

“There’s this relationship with animal nature or animalistic instinct,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 11, 2024

It was a guttural noise, an animalistic noise—

From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas