anthropomorphism

[an-thruh-puh-mawr-fiz-uhm]

noun

1. an anthropomorphic conception or representation, as of a deity.

anthropomorphism

/ ˌænθrəpəˈmɔːfɪzəm /

noun

1. the attribution of human form or behaviour to a deity, animal, etc

anthropomorphism

1. The attributing of human characteristics and purposes to inanimate objects, animals, plants, or other natural phenomena, or to God. To describe a rushing river as “angry” is to anthropomorphize it.

Other Word Forms

• anthropomorphist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of anthropomorphism¹

First recorded in 1745–55; anthropo- + -morphism

Example Sentences

In the age when the passing of the Turing test was a distant prospect, the question of computing and the mind was one of anthropomorphism—of transmitting human qualities to an object.

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But by the 1980s, much chimp behavior was being interpreted in ways that would have been labeled anthropomorphism — ascribing human traits to non-human entities — decades earlier.

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Yet anthropomorphism was increasingly seen as a form of bias that did not align with the scientific method emerging in the 19th century.

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I'm not a fan of using the anthropomorphism card.

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My notion of anthropomorphism kept changing as I spent time with him.

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