Humanize \Hu"man*ize\, v. i. To become or be made more humane; to become civilized; to be ameliorated.
By the original law of nations, war and extirpation were the punishment of injury. Humanizing by degrees, it admitted slavery instead of death; a further step was the exchange of prisoners instead of slavery. --Franklin.
Humanize \Hu"man*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Humanized}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Humanizing}.] [Cf. F. humaniser.] 1. To render human or humane; to soften; to make gentle by overcoming cruel dispositions and rude habits; to refine or civilize. [Also spelled {humanise}.]
Was it the business of magic to humanize our natures with compassion? --Addison.
2. To give a human character or expression to. ``Humanized divinities.'' --Caird.
3. (Med.) To convert into something human or belonging to man; as, to humanize vaccine lymph.
She said humor can be a "dangerous device," but it also can "help humanize" an appeal and give it more natural empathy.
One of plastic surgeons' newest gimmicks is the videotape designed to humanize the guy with the knife.
Now, in an intimate revival which opened Thursday at Broadway's Circle in the Square, director Susan Schulman has sought to humanize, if not soften, the story and its leading characters.
Indeed, argues Mr. Atwater, the Bush gaffes are the sort of thing that "tend to humanize a candidate."