Humanize

verb

verb ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make human; to give or cause to have the fundamental properties of a human. transitive

    "VVas it the buſineſs of magic to humanize our natures with compaſſion, forgiveneſs, and all the inſtances of the moſt extenſive charity?"

  2. 2
    To make humane. transitive

    "In China, as in India, Buddhism humanized the government and the people. It was a Chinese Emperor, Ming-Ti (a.d. 58-76), converted to Buddhism that abolished the penalty of death."

  3. 3
    make more humane wordnet
  4. 4
    To make sympathetic or relatable. transitive

    "I think they would try to humanize the worst villains in history out of their fear that the audience might not like the central character."

  5. 5
    To become humane or civilized. intransitive
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  1. 6
    To convert into something human or belonging to humans. transitive

    "to humanize vaccine lymph"

Synonyms

All synonyms
civilizehumanhumanisepersonify

Example

More examples

"VVas it the buſineſs of magic to humanize our natures with compaſſion, forgiveneſs, and all the inſtances of the moſt extenſive charity?"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From human + -ize.

Etymology 2

From humane + -ize.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.