animalize
Reduce to instincts
To animalize is to reduce someone to animal status—stripping away dignity, reason, or humanity.
The word appears most often in contexts of degradation or brutalization: Years of abuse had animalized him.
It can also mean to represent something in animal form, though this sense is rare.
The noun is animalization.
Treat with cruel violence
barbarize · vilify · bestialize · dehumanization · savage · depersonalize · subjugate · oppress
Cruel and uncivilized
- beastlySavagely cruel or unpleasant
- feralWild after domestication
- savageFierce and untamed
- primalFirst in origin
carnal · brute · vicious · barbaric · untamed · creaturely · predatory · instinctual
Change form entirely
- shapeshiftMagically change physical form
- transmogrifyChange form grotesquely
- werewolfShapeshifting wolf-person
- lycanthropyMythical wolf-becoming affliction
morph · mutate · feral · skinwalker · transformation · creature · hybrid · chimera
brutalize
Treat with cruel violence
objectify · barbarize · vilify · bestialize · dehumanization · savage · depersonalize · subjugate · oppress · stigmatize
brutish
Cruel and uncivilized
primal · carnal · brute · vicious · barbaric · untamed · creaturely · predatory · instinctual · uncivilized
metamorphose
Change form entirely
- shapeshiftMagically change physical form
- transmogrifyChange form grotesquely
- werewolfShapeshifting wolf-person
lycanthropy · morph · mutate · feral · skinwalker · transformation · creature · hybrid · chimera
territorial
Defensive about owned space
- predatoryExploiting the vulnerable
- matingReproductive pairing behavior
- dominanceSuperior influence over others
survival · pack · herd · alpha · prowling · foraging · hunting · nesting · migration · courtship
animalizecivilize
Develop social order
humanize · refine · cultivate · sophisticate · domesticate
animalizespiritualize
Imbue with transcendent meaning
deify · divinize · sanctify · etherealize · transcend