Standard Lemma guide

dehumanization

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /diːˌhjuːmənaɪˈzeɪʃən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: D IY2 HH Y UW2 M AH0 N AH0 Z EY1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The act or process of dehumanizing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the act of degrading people with respect to their best qualities

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • science has been blamed for the dehumanization of modern life

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dehumanisation

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: degradation, debasement

History

Etymology

From de- + humanization or dehumanize + -ation or de- + human + -ization.

Across languages

Translations

38 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ապամարդկայնացում (apamardkaynacʻum) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Belarusian: дэгуманіза́цыя (dehumanizácyja) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Bulgarian: дехуманиза́ция (dehumanizácija) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Catalan: deshumanització — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 非人化 (fēirénhuà) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Czech: dehumanizace — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Danish: dehumanisering — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Dutch: ontmenselijking — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Estonian: ebainimlikustamine — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Finnish: epäinhimillistäminen — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Finnish: ihmisarvon kieltäminen — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • French: déshumanisation — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Galician: deshumanización — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • German: Entmenschlichung — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • German: Dehumanisation — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Greek: απανθρωποποίηση (apanthropopoíisi) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Italian: disumanizzazione — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Japanese: 非人間化 (hiningenka) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Korean: 비인간화 (biin'ganhwa) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Macedonian: дехуманизација (dehumanizacija) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Norwegian Bokmål: dehumanisering — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Polish: dehumanizacja — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Polish: odczłowieczenie — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Portuguese: desumanização — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Romanian: dezumanizare — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Russian: обесчелове́чивание (obesčelovéčivanije) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Russian: дегуманиза́ция (degumanizácija) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Russian: расчелове́чивание (rasčelovéčivanije) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Russian: расчелове́чение (rasčelovéčenije) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Serbo-Croatian: дехуманизација — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Serbo-Croatian: dehumanizacija — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Slovak: dehumanizácia — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Slovene: dehumanizacija — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Spanish: deshumanización — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Swedish: avhumanisering — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Turkish: insandışılaştırma — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Ukrainian: дегуманіза́ція (dehumanizácija) — the act or process of dehumanizing
  • Ukrainian: розлю́днення (rozljúdnennja) — the act or process of dehumanizing