anthropomorphize

American  

[an-thruh-puh-mawr-fahyz] / ˌæn θrə pəˈmɔr faɪz /

especially British, anthropomorphise

verb (used with or without object)

anthropomorphized, anthropomorphizing

1. to ascribe human form or attributes to (an animal, plant, material object, etc.).

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anthropomorphize British  

/ ˌænθrəpəˈmɔːfaɪz /

verb

1. to attribute or ascribe human form or behaviour to (a god, animal, object, etc)

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Other Word Forms

• anthropomorphization
  noun

Etymology

Origin of anthropomorphize

First recorded in 1835–45; anthropomorph(ic) ( def. ) + -ize

Explanation

When you talk about a thing or animal as if it were human, you're anthropomorphizing it. The Easter Bunny is an anthropomorphized rabbit. People anthropomorphize all the time. If you've ever seen a dog in a sweater, that's a small case of an owner anthropomorphizing his pet. A cartoon dog who talks is a bigger case of anthropomorphizing. Shel Silverstein's book The Giving Tree anthropomorphizes the tree — the tree acts as if it were a person. It may seem kind of bizarre, but treating non-human things as human is a way of imagining another point of view.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

anthropomorphize anthropomorphized anthropomorphizing

"Even the instances that did anthropomorphize AI varied widely in strength."

From Science Daily ● Apr. 19, 2026

People who were lonelier were both more likely to interact with AI, and more likely to anthropomorphize it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

To call a river a person is not to anthropomorphize water, but rather to widen and deepen the category of ‘person’.

From Salon ● May 28, 2025

“People tend to anthropomorphize certain objects like cars, even giving them names, because our brains are hard-wired to see personality even when it’s not possible to exist,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2024

Charles was always one to anthropomorphize creatures, seeds, rocks even, and could be overheard talking to them as if they understood.

From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman

Could my beloved Pixar, which had already anthropomorphized so many things, really make something so upsetting and perplexing, and on so many levels?

From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026

That had to be a whiff of flop-sweat from the Atlanta 1996 games’ blue blob mascot, something like an anthropomorphized teardrop, originally named Whatizit for the obvious reaction it generated, and later just Izzy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026

Instead, Gallrein simply functioned as an anthropomorphized biography.

From Slate ● May 19, 2026

The houses in “Chicago Homes” are lovingly described and unapologetically anthropomorphized.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026

Such animal-gods are not anthropomorphized in early times.

From The Next Step in Religion An Essay toward the Coming Renaissance by Roy Wood Sellars

Her crime, she believes, is “the cardinal scientific sin of anthropomorphizing trees by using the metaphor of the mother tree.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

But ultimately, the series takes a surprising turn to suggest that it might be time to stop anthropomorphizing animals — and instead get real about the risks they face.

From Salon ● May 12, 2025

"This can lead to embarrassing mistakes, and for journalists to feed into the hype machine, by, for example, anthropomorphizing AI technologies, and mythologizing tech companies."

From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2024

I know that scientists would warn me off anthropomorphizing nature and its creatures, surrendering objectivity and good sense.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 25, 2023

You're anthropomorphizing," I told Moya, "but that's the way I see it.

From Attrition by Roy G. Krenkel