hominize means to make human, or treat as if human. It carries an Arena rating of 1360, earned across 8 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, hominize ranks #1,284 of 13,272 for Most Malleable Words, #2,790 of 13,272 for The Improbable, #3,122 of 13,272 for Most Elegant Words, #4,323 of 13,272 for Most Sublime Words.
Why “hominize” is a great word
To confer the specific essence or form of humanity upon something, or to treat it as if it were human. From Latin homō (stem homin-, meaning "human") + the English suffix -ize (meaning "to make, to become"). Unlike “humanize,” which suggests imbuing with compassion or civility, or “anthropomorphize,” which projects human traits onto animals or deities, to hominize is a more fundamental, often technical, act of transformation. It is the cold algorithm taught to parse grief, the slow chisel shaping stone into a face that might recognize you, or the quiet ritual of speaking to a houseplant as if it could listen—the profound and lonely labor of bending a mute world toward a mirror.
Etymology
From Latin homō (“human”, stem homin-) + -ize.
verb
- To make human, or treat as if human.
Words closest in meaning
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