ANIMALITY Synonyms: 36 Similar and Opposite Words

animality

noun

ˌa-nə-ˈma-lə-tē

Definition of animality

as in brutality

the manifestation of the traits or the gratification of the appetites of a lower animal in his portrayal the actor emphasizes the working-class hunk's fundamental animality

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of animality In other words, humans can act against the animal component of their nature and manifest their humanity by rejecting their animality. — 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 But also, something more intrinsic — something like her animality. — Camille Bromley Gabra Zackman Krish Seenivasan David Mason, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2025 Kafka’s fiction is full of animals who resemble people and people who lapse into animality. — Becca Rothfeld, The New Yorker, 9 Jan. 2023 The study ventures into the intricacies of scientific and quasi-scientific debates in the 19th century, and treats 19th century science as embedded in a myth featuring divinity, humanity and animality as principal characters. — Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 31 July 2012

Recent Examples of Synonyms for animality

Noun

The army Mladic created to fight in Bosnia was a model of ruthlessness, daring and brutality in the Serb warrior tradition, once prized in the life-or-death partisan struggle against the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia in World War Two.

— Ivana Sekularac, USA Today, 27 Aug. 2026
Freya is the granddaughter of Athos — a dog who survived the Russian brutality in Bucha and was found on the street where Ukrainian forces destroyed a large Russian convoy, Danylchenko told the Associated Press in an interview.

— Laurie Kellman, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of brutality

Noun

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
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

Definition of animalism

Noun

Law enforcement sources involved in the case told WJZ that the horse was being cared for by someone who is facing animal cruelty and abandonment charges in an unrelated case in West Virginia.

— Tara Lynch, CBS News, 25 Aug. 2026
The real problem is the culture, and when culture rewards cruelty, the damage spreads.

— Jodi Bondi Norgaard, Chicago Tribune, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of cruelty

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animalistic

animality

animalize

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“Animality.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/animality. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of animality

noun

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