personhood

[pur-suhn-hood]

noun

1. the state or fact of being a person.

2. the state or fact of being an individual or having human characteristics and feelings.

   a harsh prison system that deprives prisoners of their personhood.

personhood

/ ˈp£ːsənˌhʊd /

noun

1. the condition of being a person who is an individual with inalienable rights, esp under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States

Word History and Origins

Origin of personhood¹

First recorded in 1955–60; person + -hood

Example Sentences

This category of besieged and suspect personhood inevitably expands to include political “enemies.”

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Since the end of Reconstruction in Florida, the gifts and benefits of “personhood,” those who are deemed fit to receive first-class citizenship, have largely been limited to the Sunshine State’s hetero-white residents.

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His literal personhood and what it symbolizes is a violation of America’s centuries-old racial order.

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Her family had no choice in that decision; state law grants fetuses personhood and bans abortion after the point at which an ultrasound can detect cardiac activity in an embryo.

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That is also true of many other groups, too — even if they are in denial about how precarious their rights and freedoms and personhood truly have been historically and continue to be in this country.

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