What does dehumanising mean?
Dehumanising describes language, behaviour, or systems that treat people as less than human. It is often used when people are denied their individuality or represented as interchangeable objects, categories, or numbers. The word carries a serious moral and political charge, commonly appearing in discussion of propaganda, discriminatory institutions, exploitative treatment, and cruel public policy. For example, describing people only by their status, productivity, or supposed threat to society can have a dehumanising effect because it makes their personal identities and basic dignity seem irrelevant. The term may also refer more broadly to making something seem less human, although its dominant modern use concerns the treatment of people. It is related to humanising, the process of restoring or emphasising humane qualities, and is frequently used in arguments about whether particular policies, technologies, or forms of speech recognise the full humanity of those they affect. The British spelling is dehumanising; the US spelling is dehumanizing.
Denying people their individuality, dignity, or humanity, or tending to do so.
"The advertisement was criticised for its dehumanising portrayal of migrants."
Commonly used to describe language, treatment, practices, and their effects.
Treat a person or group as less than human, especially by denying their dignity or individuality.
"The regulations dehumanised residents by reducing them to numbers in an administrative system."
This entry represents the present-participle form of the verb dehumanise; the US spelling is dehumanize.
Dehumanising language can erase a person before anyone physically harms them: first they become a category, an object, or a number.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does dehumanising come from?
Dehumanising was formed in English from the combining form de-, human, and the suffix -ising, giving the sense of stripping people of their human qualities. Human comes through English from Latin humanus, meaning “human” or “humane,” and the related words human, humane, humanity, and humanitarian preserve that same root. The form also exists in the American spelling dehumanizing.
Related word forms
How dehumanising is actually used
This is a strongly evaluative term, used especially of language, institutions, practices, or treatment that strips people of dignity and individuality. It is especially common in formal, political, legal, and human-rights discourse.
Easily confused with dehumanising
Dehumanising focuses on depriving people of their recognised humanity or dignity, whereas inhumanising can more broadly describe cruelty, brutality, or treatment that is shockingly inhuman.