What does bestialise mean?
Bestialise is a chiefly British verb meaning to make someone or something bestial: to portray or treat people as beasts, irrational creatures, or cruel savages. It is usually transitive and carries a strongly condemnatory tone. The verb is especially associated with propaganda, dehumanisation, and depictions of enemies as dangerous animals, because such language strips away individual humanity and moral responsibility. A writer might say that a regime bestialised its opponents, while a critic might describe a novel as bestialising a crowd. The word is uncommon and literary in register, and US writers generally spell it bestialize. Its sense should be distinguished from bestial, which describes something brutish or animal-like, and from bestiality, which refers to sexual behaviour involving animals. Though its modern usage is overwhelmingly negative, the verb's older roots are descriptive rather than sexual: it comes from bestial, from Latin bestialis, meaning "of beasts," ultimately from bestia, "beast."
verbTo make someone or something bestial; to portray or treat people as brutish, irrational, cruel, or animal-like.
- To make someone or something bestial, especially by depicting or treating people as irrational, cruel, or animal-like.
"The propagandist's speeches bestialised the enemy, portraying them as animals to be hunted."
"The propagandist's speeches bestialised the enemy, portraying them as animals to be hunted."
"The novelist bestialises the mob, reducing its members to a faceless and terrifying pack."
Bestialise names the act of reducing human beings to animals in the language of power.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does bestialise come from?
The word is a British-spelled derivative of bestial, which comes through French and Medieval Latin from Latin bestialis, meaning "of or relating to beasts." The Latin adjective in turn derives from bestia, "beast." The verb-forming suffix -ise expresses the sense of making or rendering something like a beast.
Related word forms
How bestialise is actually used
Chiefly British and relatively uncommon, with a formal or literary register. The verb is strongly negative and is often used of propaganda or rhetoric that dehumanizes opponents by depicting them as animals or savages.
Easily confused with bestialise
Bestialize is the American spelling of the same verb; both forms share the same meaning and are otherwise interchangeable.