Word of the Day: anthropomorphize

The word anthropomorphize has appeared in 13 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Aug. 11 in “A Chimp Sanctuary With a New Urgency to Give Shelter” by Emmett Lindner, an interview with Emily Anthes:

In an article like this one, do you try to stay away from projecting too many human attributes onto animals?

I write a lot about animals, and it’s something that’s always a tricky line. From a scientific perspective, we certainly don’t want to anthropomorphize animals. They’re not human. They’re creatures with their own ways of being in the world, processing the world and moving through the world. But sometimes anthropomorphizing gets treated as a dirty word. It’s sometimes useful to draw parallels between animal experiences and human life.

Daily Word Challenge

Can you correctly use the word anthropomorphize in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how anthropomorphize can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.