How to use humanize in a sentence

15 example sentences · verb

Humanize means to make human; to give or cause to have the fundamental properties of a human. Example: “The guillotine was meant to humanize beheadings, but allowed the French Revolution to execute people at an industrial rate.”

Examples of humanize by meaning

verbTo make sympathetic or relatable.

I think they would try to humanize the worst villains in history out of their fear that the audience might not like the central character.2000, Robert J. Emery, The directors: in their own words, volume 2, page 267

verbTo convert into something human or belonging to humans.

to humanize vaccine lymph
humanized monoclonal antibodies

verbTo make humane.

In China, as in India, Buddhism humanized the government and the people.1932, Mariadas Ruthnaswamy, The making of the state, page 102
And consequently he humanized the company.1974, Al Parsons, Lightning in the Sun: A History of Florida Power Corporation, 1899-1974, page 154
Some leftists believed that Cardenas humanized the government and harmonized its workings with the needs of the common people at the same time that peasant and worker activists placed demands on the political system.1995, John A. Britton, Revolution and Ideology: Images of the Mexican Revolution in the United States, page 145

More sentences with humanize

The guillotine was meant to humanize beheadings, but allowed the French Revolution to execute people at an industrial rate.From the entry beheading
Gradually introduce small changes to deformalize and humanize Board meetings, while retaining the positive aspects of established customs.2009, Eli Mina, One hundred and one boardroom problems and how to solve them, page 96. From the entry deformalize
It is interesting how we personalize or humanize certain forces which we cannot control like "Mother Nature" and "Old Man Winter".2002, Robert H. Claxton, Claxton on Williams and Duedall, Florida Hurricanes and Tropical Storms, 1871-2001. From the entry Old Man Winter
These are the days when computers humanize and humans computerize.2001, David Mitchell, chapter 1, in number9dream, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN. From the entry computerize
She’s not fancy or overcontrolled: she sounds relaxed but alert, and a slight nasal flatness in her voice humanizes her, makes her touch the ground.2007 January 8, The New York Times, “New CDs”, in New York Times. From the entry overcontrol
They also have humanized time and weather, with such references as "Father Time" and "Old Man Winter", "Mother Earth" and "Hurricane Floyd".2003, Scotland Miles, Don't Take Me To Your Leader, →ISBN, pages 28–29. From the entry Old Man Winter
It fulfilled its function of humanizing him on the spot, though he refused to concede his astuteness to a mere gulp of liquor.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 161. From the entry concede
An intriguing reconstruction of the liberal arts follows, designed for the age of democracy and technology, deranking but retaining the classics and humanizing the study of science.1973, Intellect - Volume 102, page 194. From the entry derank
In plot and characterization and the resulting significance of theme, his changes are the most vital; for here he undertook to humanize and to elizabethanize the story.1933, Paul Hazard, Fernand Baldensperger -, Revue de littérature comparée - Volume 13, page 349. From the entry elizabethanize

Meaning of humanize

verb To make human; to give or cause to have the fundamental properties of a human.
verb To make sympathetic or relatable.
verb To convert into something human or belonging to humans.

Full definition of humanize

Questions about humanize in a sentence

How do you use humanize in a sentence?: Humanize is used as a verb. For example: “The guillotine was meant to humanize beheadings, but allowed the French Revolution to execute people at an industrial rate.”
What is a short sentence with humanize?: “humanized monoclonal antibodies”
What does humanize mean?: Humanize means to make human; to give or cause to have the fundamental properties of a human.

Adapted from Wiktionary: humanize (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use humanize in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/humanize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.