ANIMALISM Synonyms: 36 Similar and Opposite Words

animalism

noun

ˈa-nə-mə-ˌli-zəm

Definition of animalism

as in brutality

the manifestation of the traits or the gratification of the appetites of a lower animal without law and order, society would quickly devolve into a state of animalism

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Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of animalism But what Cameron represents to Harper is unfettered animalism, and that’s part of what’s missing in her relationship with Ethan. — Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone, 12 Dec. 2022 Hope is something that Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri can related to, having explored the dualities of hope and despair (as well as lightness and darkness, and fluidity and animalism) in her spring 2023 collection. — Rosemary Feitelberg, WWD, 22 Jan. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for animalism

Noun

Lee learned much about the systemic oppression that Black Americans faced from his first student, Jesse Glover, who had been a victim of police brutality.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2026
These early precedents in fictional brutality also weaken Thomson’s next point, about literature’s superiority.

— Michael O’Donnell, The Atlantic, 2 July 2026

Definition of brutality

Noun

In other words, humans can act against the animal component of their nature and manifest their humanity by rejecting their animality.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 11 Nov. 2025
This strangeness causes all sorts of internal agitation, an uneasiness about humanity’s closeness to animality.

— Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2025

Definition of animality

Noun

According to the Sheriff’s Office, a judge released Cruz on his own recognizance June 4 following his arraignment on felony animal cruelty charges in Sacramento Superior Court.

— Velvet Wu July 1, Sacbee.com, 2 July 2026
At one point, the narrator, embarrassed by his own act of cruelty, gives a sobbing woman all his money and then leaves her alone in a hotel room.

— Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 1 July 2026