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anthropomorphize

/ˌænθrəpəˈmɔrfaɪz/

IPA guide

Other forms: anthropomorphized; anthropomorphizing; anthropomorphizes

When you talk about a thing or animal as if it were human, you're anthropomorphizing it. The Easter Bunny is an anthropomorphized rabbit.

People anthropomorphize all the time. If you've ever seen a dog in a sweater, that's a small case of an owner anthropomorphizing his pet. A cartoon dog who talks is a bigger case of anthropomorphizing. Shel Silverstein's book The Giving Tree anthropomorphizes the tree — the tree acts as if it were a person. It may seem kind of bizarre, but treating non-human things as human is a way of imagining another point of view.

Definitions of anthropomorphize
  1. verb
    ascribe human features to something
    synonyms: anthropomorphise
    see moresee less
    type of:
    ascribe, assign, attribute, impute
    attribute or credit to
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