I. ˈanəməl noun
( -s )
Etymology: Latin, from animale, neuter of animalis animate, from anima breath, soul, + -alis -al — more at animate
1. : an organism of the kingdom Animalia being characterized by a requirement for complex organic nutrients including proteins or their constituents which are usually digested in an internal cavity before assimilation into the body proper and being distinguished from typical plants by lack of chlorophyll and inability to perform photosynthesis, by cells that lack cellulose walls, and usually by greater mobility with some degree of voluntary locomotor ability, by greater irritability commonly mediated through a more or less centralized nervous system, and by the frequent presence of discrete complex sense organs
2.
a. : one of the lower animals : a brute or beast as distinguished from man : any creature except a human being — compare domestic animal , ferae naturae
b. : a mammal as distinguished from a bird, reptile, or other nonmammal
c. North : a male bovine : bull
3.
a. : a human being considered chiefly from the aspect of his animal nature and animal qualities
a majestic animal of a man — Newsweek
b. : a human being considered from a speculative or abstract viewpoint : person , being , creature
women wonder so often about this strange creature, the male animal — Theodor Reik
c. : thing
the theater, obviously, is an entirely different animal — Arthur Miller
4. : animal nature : animality
unable to control the animal in himself
II. adjective
1.
a. : of, relating to, resembling, or having the qualities of animals
animal instincts
animal behavior
especially : more like a brute animal than a man
the butler … betrayed a sullen and almost animal affection for his master — G.K.Chesterton
b. : derived from animals as distinguished from vegetable or mineral sources
furs and other animal products
2. : of or relating to the physical or sentient
the savage, when he first began to lift his thoughts above the satisfaction of his merely animal wants — J.G.Frazer
— contrasted with intellectual, rational, spiritual
3. : gross , carnal
an animal hunger for every pleasure
4. : physically relaxing or soothing : pleasurable to the senses
the animal looseness of their summer home clothes — D.C.Peattie
5. : of or relating to the animal pole of an egg or to that part of an egg from which ectoderm normally develops — compare vegetal
Synonyms: see carnal
III. noun
: an individual with a particular interest or aptitude
a political animal