[f. ANTHROPOMORPHIZE: see -ISM. Cf. Fr. anthropomorphisme.] Attribution of human form or character.
a. Ascription of a human form and attributes to the Deity.
1734. trans. Lett. Turkish Spy, VIII. 196. These Doctrines are the pure Effects of Anthropomorphism, or the Religion of those who represent GOD under the Form of a Mortal Man.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Anthropomorphism, among divines, the error of those who ascribe a human figure to the deity.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., II. xlvii. 742. Scandalized by the anthropomorphism of the vulgar.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, i. 17. The anthropomorphism of the Greek Pantheon.
b. Ascription of a human attribute or personality to anything impersonal or irrational.
1858. Lewes, Sea-side Studies, 341. We speak with large latitude of anthropomorphism when we speak of the ‘vision’ of these animals [molluscs].
2. In language: The use of language applicable to men in speaking of God; anthropomorphology.
1833. Coleridge, Table T., 293. The strong anthropomorphism of the Hebrew Scriptures.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 433. Thou didst walk through the sea with Thine horses…. Such anthropomorphisms have a truth, which men’s favourite abstractions have not.
