mongrelize

[ muhng-gruh-lahyz, mong- ]

verb (used with object)

, mon·grel·ized, mon·grel·iz·ing.

1. to subject (a breed, group, etc.) to crossbreeding, especially with one considered inferior.
2. to mix the kinds, classes, types, characters, or sources of origin of (people, animals, or things).
3. to make debased or impure:

   The French they speak is mongrelized.

mongrelize

/ ˈmʌŋɡrəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. tr to make mixed or mongrel in breed, race, character, kind, etc

Derived Forms

• ˌmongreliˈzation, noun
• ˈmongrelˌizer, noun

Other Words From

• mongrel·i·zation noun
• mongrel·izer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of mongrelize¹

First recorded in 1620–30; mongrel + -ize

Example Sentences

Its local leader, furniture store owner Amis Guthridge, asserted that integration was a communist plot “founded in Moscow … to mongrelize the White race in America.”

From Washington Post

People often mistake Burnett for an Australian, because he has a deep tan and an outdoorsy disposition, and because his accent has been mongrelized by years of international travel.

From The New Yorker

A century ago, there were nativists who railed against Irish, Italian and Eastern European immigration, claiming that unwashed hordes from poor countries were “mongrelizing” the nation.

From Washington Post

It’s not the individuals that bother him – it’s the groups, slowly “mongrelizing” the planet, he believes, playing the long con of “white genocide”.

From The Guardian

At twenty-six, thoroughly mongrelized, I began a job in New York City.

From The New Yorker

Related Words

• crossbreed
• hybridize
• interbreed
• mix