anthropomorphize
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing anthropomorphize
Life of Pi
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This Week in Pop Culture: May 4–10, 2019
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The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
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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.
"Even the instances that did anthropomorphize AI varied widely in strength."
From Science Daily • Apr. 19, 2026
Humans have a tendency to anthropomorphize animals and even inanimate objects, says Ayanna Howard, dean of Ohio State University’s College of Engineering and a roboticist who has researched why humans blindly trust machines.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
“The world rotates around us, as far as we’re concerned. That’s why we anthropomorphize animals. The candelabra in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ — why does it have a face?
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 6, 2024
But, obviously, as with everything with dogs, we tend to anthropomorphize them and think that what we might think or feel in that situation, they might feel or think in that situation.
From Salon • Apr. 23, 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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
