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What is the opposite of the verb animate? I am looking for something meaning "take life out of something."

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  • 1
    vegitate (just kidding, I think)
    – GEdgar
    Jul 30, 2011 at 1:41
  • How about 'defenestrate?' (or maybe 'exfenestrate' :-)
    – Pete Wilson
    Aug 8, 2011 at 19:15
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    Why can't you just look this up? A google search yields many results, and the thesaurus is your friend.
    – Mark Beadles
    Apr 19, 2012 at 2:40
  • 2
    How about kill?
    – zpletan
    Apr 19, 2012 at 3:24

5 Answers 5

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6

I believe it is uncommon, but disanimate is a word that means to deprive of life that has the same root as animate plus the Latinate prefix dis- which indicates a reversal or negation.

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3

Depress is listed as its antonym and can be used depending on the subject.

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  • Yes, I saw this in the Mac's dictionary as well.
    – annawie
    May 12, 2012 at 16:08
3

How about:

Deprive
Unnerve
Weaken
Enervate
Devitalize
Debilitate
Exsanguinate
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2

Here are a few:

Deaden
Dampen (as in his spirits were dampened)
Dispirit
Quiet/Quieten (As in he quieted the man)

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1

Animate means movement and thus the antonym is freeze.

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