animalian
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Adjective
[edit]animalian (comparative more animalian, superlative most animalian)
- (sciences) Of the kingdom Animalia, which includes humans.
- (broadly) Of an animal or animals, usually including humans but sometimes connoting nonhuman nature.
- 1999, Anne Rice, Vittorio the Vampire[2], Ballantine, published 2001, →ISBN, page 121:
- We stood before the Lord in the high-backed chair, and I saw that the wood figures of his regal throne were, of course, animalian, feline and diabolical.
- (loosely, rare) Like that of an animal or animals, usually including humans but sometimes connoting nonhuman nature.
- Coordinate term: animaloid
- 1982, Anne Rice, Cry to Heaven[3], Ballantine, published 1995, →ISBN, page 78:
- He did not look at her because he did not wish to see that deliciously animalian slit of her mouth, naked and red, beneath the white mask that made her eyes look so feline.
Synonyms
[edit]- (of any animal, including humans): animalic
- (of a nonhuman animal): bestial, beastly
- (like that of a nonhuman animal): bestial, beastly