anthropomorphic, a.
(ænˌθrəʊpəʊˈmɔːfɪk)
[f. Gr. ἀνθρωπόµορϕ-ος (see anthropomorphous) + -ic.]
1. Of the nature of anthropomorphism. a. Treating the Deity as anthropomorphous, or as having a human form and character.
| 1827 Hare Guesses i. (1873) 67 Their anthropomorphic Religion..reacted powerfully upon them. 1851 Westcott Introd. Gosp. i. (ed. 5) 80 The anthropomorphic language of the Pentateuch. 1878 Gladstone Prim. Homer 68 The anthropomorphic tracings are deepest upon the Zeus of Homer. |
b. Attributing a human personality to anything impersonal or irrational.
| 1858 Lewes Seaside Stud. 255 As we are just now looking with scientific seriousness at our animals, we will discard all anthropomorphic interpretations, such as point to ‘alarm.’ 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xxi. 294 The anthropomorphic abstractions which we call nations. |
2. Having or representing a human form: = anthropomorphous a.
| 1886 [see zoomorphic a. 2 b]. 1905 A. S. Griffith tr. Capart's Prim. Art Egypt iii. 59 The designs..borrowed from animals (zoomorphic designs), from the human figure (anthropomorphic), and occasionally from manufactured objects (skeuomorphic). |