dehumanizing

adjective

de·​hu·​man·​iz·​ing (ˌ)dē-ˈ(h)yü-mə-ˌnī-ziŋ 

: depriving someone of human qualities, personality, or dignity : demeaning or damaging to a person's humanity or individuality

a dehumanizing caricature/slur

dehumanizing statistics

Before even being allowed to call a lawyer, the arrestee is faced with the dehumanizing treatment of a strip search …

—John W. Whitehead

This kind of language is deliberately dehumanizing: the athlete is referred to not as a person but as a "brand", throughout.

—Felix Salmon

Inmates at the South Carolina prison cited dehumanizing conditions such as a lack of sunlight, poor and insufficient food, and few rehabilitative programs as reasons they lost hope.

—Aaron Cantú

Not only are writers selling their products, they essentially become their products: author as commodity. It's a weirdly dehumanizing experience.

—Rachel Donadio

… the dehumanizing nastiness of having your intimate personal photos hacked …

—Joe Fay

Examples of dehumanizing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Police have also linked him to online writings that address deeper cultural complaints about the dehumanizing impacts of corporate profiteering. —Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Dec. 2024

The court’s ruling on Friday cited a series of statements made by Israeli leaders as evidence of incitement and dehumanizing language against Palestinians. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Jan. 2024

The Trump administration loves to praise democratic governments in the Western Hemisphere, but these same governments are deeply alienated by Trump’s dehumanizing rhetoric about Mexican and Central American immigrants to the United States. —Christopher Sabatini, Foreign Affairs, 21 Mar. 2019

Eastwood insists on finding humanity everywhere, even in the most dehumanizing circumstances. —Keith Phipps, Vulture, 1 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1817, in the meaning defined above