Word
anthropomorphic
Phoneticsan·thro·po·mor·phic
US/ˌænθɹəpəˈmɔɹfɪk/
UK/ˌænθɹəpəmˈɔːfɪk/
Definition
adj. describing something that has human qualities or looks like a person. You use this when animals or objects are shown with human faces or feelings in stories.
adj. relating to the attribution of human characteristics, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. Often used in literary analysis to describe the personification of animals or nature.
Examples
“The children's book features an anthropomorphic rabbit who wears a hat.”
“In many ancient myths, gods are depicted as anthropomorphic figures who live in a version of the human world.”
“The poet's use of anthropomorphic language transforms the storm into a vengeful deity, allowing the reader to experience the weather as a conscious, malevolent force.”
Examples
simple
“The children's book features an anthropomorphic rabbit who wears a hat.”
contextual
“In many ancient myths, gods are depicted as anthropomorphic figures who live in a version of the human world.”
complex
“The poet's use of anthropomorphic language transforms the storm into a vengeful deity, allowing the reader to experience the weather as a conscious, malevolent force.”
Real-World Examples
“If we don’t understand how they work—how they “think,” if you want to get all anthropomorphic about it—it’s much harder to build reliable guardrails.” “They could design a simple onboarding step for users of platforms or accounts to assess their anthropomorphic tendencies and adjust the AI's conversational tone accordingly, the authors said.” Etymology
From anthropo- + -morphic.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Domains
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/anthropomorphic