animality

American  

[an-uh-mal-i-tee] / ˌæn əˈmæl ɪ ti /

noun

1. the state of being an animal.

2. the animal nature or instincts of human beings.

3. animal kingdom.

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animality British  

/ ˌænɪˈmælɪtɪ /

noun

1. the animal side of man, as opposed to the intellectual or spiritual

2. the fact of being or having the characteristics of an animal

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Other Word Forms

• nonanimality noun
• superanimality noun

Etymology

Origin of animality

1605–15; animal + -ity, modeled on carnality ( def. )

Example Sentences

The movement for “Afternoon of a Faun” alludes to the two-dimensional choreography of Nijinsky’s dance to that Debussy piece, a nod to a predecessor of Naharin’s stylized animality.

From New York Times • Mar. 2, 2023

Bacon, an avowed atheist, shows human life as pure animality.

From The Guardian • Sep. 17, 2019

He thinks that personhood is a form of self-imposed dullness and yearns for the vivid openness of animality.

From The New Yorker • May 23, 2016

It’s the particular triumph of his animal characters, however, that they never become merely allegorical—or rather, they become allegorical while retaining their singularity and animality.

From Slate • Jul. 13, 2014

Some authorities have thought their animality proved by the high degree of contractility which their tissues evince.

From Marvels of Pond-life A Year's Microscopic Recreations by Slack, Henry J.