dispersonify

Etymology

From dis- + personify.

Why this word is great

DISPERSONIFY — [Verb] To view as impersonal; to see as an object rather than as having personal attributes. From dis- (expressing reversal or negation) + personify (to attribute personal characteristics to something). Unlike "depersonalize" (which erases individuality wholesale) or "objectify" (which reduces a person to a thing, often with cruelty), dispersonify is the quiet act of seeing without sentiment. It is the botanist classifying a flower by its parts, not its beauty; the surgeon regarding a body as a system of tissues, not a life; the astronomer observing a star as a ball of plasma, not a wish-granter. To dispersonify is to trade wonder for clarity, and sometimes, to mourn the exchange.

verb

  1. To view as impersonal; to see as an object rather than as having personal attributes.“It is almost impossible for the most prosaic mind to dispersonify a ship. It requires a greater effort probably on the part of the Englishman to view a ship as an inanimate object than for the ancient Greek to dispersonify the sun or moon.”