Dictionary

anthropomorphize en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˌanθɹəpəˈmɔːfʌɪz/

Etymology

By surface analysis, anthropo- + morph + -ize.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To endow with human qualities.
2. (transitive) To ascribe human characteristics and behaviors to nonhuman entities.
   • Bonnie Lucas further anthropomorphizes the flower in her watercolors, combining it surreally with the human female figure[…] 1988 January 15, Kathryn Hixson, “On Exhibit: a gallery full of flowers”, in Chicago Reader:
   • But for some animal-obsessive ceramists, anthropomorphizing as a sculptural approach is a zany (and speedy) joy. 2021 August 19, Nancy Hass, “The Ceramists Crafting Miniature Menageries”, in The New York Times Style Magazine:
   • It has been two months since I last checked my feed, during which time Facebook has sent me notifications I didn't sign up for, informing me every time someone posts, and invited me to attend locally organised focus groups. […] Of course, I am anthropomorphising a machine; no one is in charge of all this. 2018 June 15, Emma Brockes, “No, Facebook, I won’t be back. I’ve seen the dangers of habitual sharing”, in The Guardian:
   • A month away from twenty-six and there you are, in the middle of a Monday afternoon, genuinely engaged in the madcap antics of a slope-headed, claymated man and his anthropomorphized horse. 1998, Paul McComas, Twenty Questions: A Collection of Short and Very Short Stories, Fithian Press, →ISBN, page 33:
   • I do think that this perspective offers a useful corrective to the tendency to anthropomorphize large-language models, but there is another aspect to the compression analogy that is worth considering. 2023 February 9, Ted Chiang, “ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web”, in The New Yorker:

Forms

Deriveds

unanthropomorphized · deanthropomorphize · anthropomorphizable

Relateds

anthropomorphically · anthropomorphization · anthropomorphism · anthropomorphic

Translations (19)

cmn 擬人化 /拟人化 (attribute human qualities) · fi ihmisenkaltaistaa (attribute human qualities) · ru очелове́чивать (to attribute human characteristics to something that is non-human) · cmn 人格化 (attribute human qualities) · ru очелове́чивать (attribute human qualities) · ru очелове́чить (attribute human qualities) · nl antropomorfiseren (attribute human qualities) · uk антропоморфізува́ти (to attribute human characteristics to something that is non-human) · de vermenschlichen (attribute human qualities) · de anthropomorphisieren (attribute human qualities) · el ανθρωπομορφίζω (attribute human qualities) · it antropomorfizzare (attribute human qualities) · fr anthropomorphiser (attribute human qualities) · he הֶאֱנִישׁ (attribute human qualities) · pt antropomorfizar (attribute human qualities) · es antropomorfizar (attribute human qualities) · fi antropomorfisoida (attribute human qualities) · pl antropomorfizować (to attribute human characteristics to something that is non-human) · ru очелове́чить (to attribute human characteristics to something that is non-human)