an·i·mal·ism (?n??-m?-l?z??m)n.1. Enjoyment of vigorous health and physical drives.2. Indifference to all but the physical appetites.3. The philosophical doctrine that humans are animals in their essential identity and are persons only through their contingent properties.an?i·mal·ist n.an?i·mal·is?tic (-l?s?t?k) adj.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.animalistic (?æn?m??l?st?k) adjof, relating to, or resembling an animal or animals; brutishCollins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014