anthropomorphic

[ an-thruh-puh-mawr-fik ]

adjective

1. ascribing human form or attributes to a being or thing not human, especially to a deity: Children especially love anthropomorphic tales where talking animal friends have exciting adventures.

   Much has been written on the anthropomorphic qualities of the God of the Hebrew Scriptures.

   Children especially love anthropomorphic tales where talking animal friends have exciting adventures.

2. resembling or made to resemble a human form:

   an anthropomorphic carving.

anthropomorphic

/ ˌænθrəpəˈmɔːfɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to anthropomorphism
2. resembling the human form

Derived Forms

• ˈanthropoˌmorph, noun
• ˌanthropoˈmorphically, adverb

Other Words From

• an·thro·po·mor·phi·cal·ly an·thro·po·mor·phous·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of anthropomorphic¹

First recorded in 1820–30; anthropo- + -morphic

Example Sentences

Major Paik works from the 1970s and ’80s include a garden dismally strewn with 49 TV sets and several delightful anthropomorphic sculptures made from lashed-together TVs.

From Washington Post

There’s an anthropomorphic quality to them that seems natural at a street intersection.

From Washington Post

The real amusement simply comes from chatting up the menagerie of anthropomorphic animals who are generally some combination of jaded, guarded and broken, with a touch of don’t-give-a-damn.

From Washington Post

It is anthropomorphic, they argue, to say that other creatures experience feelings like compassion, even when their behavior appears — to our human eyes — to be impelled by it.

From Washington Post

These appear to dance across transparent displays — and into such canvases as “Bluewalker,” whose shapes are less anthropomorphic but do suggest bodies in motion.

From Washington Post

Totes, T-shirts, and an anthropomorphic stuffed rat are for sale at the gift shop.

From The Daily Beast

The children of The Cat in the Hat are left in the care of a massive anthropomorphic feline.

From The Daily Beast

The rainbow which incloses the picture on three sides is not the anthropomorphic rainbow.

From Project Gutenberg

He would find that the modern statues by famous artists were beautiful anthropomorphic works in marble or in gold and ivory.

From Project Gutenberg

To vindicate his spirituality the anthropomorphic passages in the Koran must be understood metaphorically.

From Project Gutenberg

The Gentiles make use of the anthropomorphic expressions in the Bible to annoy us, charging us with believing in a corporeal God.

From Project Gutenberg

In the advance from man to the anthropomorphic god, the hero would surely already have been encountered.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• humanlike