-ize
a verb-forming suffix occurring originally in loanwords from Greek that have entered English through Latin or French (baptize; barbarize; catechize); within English, -ize is added to adjectives and nouns to form transitive verbs with the general senses “to render, make” (actualize; fossilize; sterilize; Americanize), “to convert into, give a specified character or form to” (computerize; dramatize; itemize; motorize), “to subject to (as a process, sometimes named after its originator)” (hospitalize; terrorize; galvanize; oxidize; simonize; winterize). Also formed with -ize are a more heterogeneous group of verbs, usually intransitive, denoting a change of state (crystallize), kinds or instances of behavior (apologize; moralize; tyrannize), or activities (economize; philosophize; theorize).
Origin of -ize
1- Also especially British, -ise1.
usage note For -ize
Some words ending in -ize have been widely disapproved in recent years, particularly finalize (first attested in the early 1920s) and prioritize (around 1970). Such words are most often criticized when they become, as did these two, vogue terms, suddenly heard and seen everywhere, especially in the context of advertising, commerce, education, or government—forces claimed by some to have a corrupting influence upon the language. The criticism has fairly effectively suppressed the use of finalize and prioritize in belletristic writing, but the words are fully standard and occur regularly in all varieties of speech and writing, especially the more formal types.
The British spelling, -ise, is becoming less common in British English, especially in technical or formal writing, chiefly because some influential British publishers advocate or have adopted the American form -ize.
Words Nearby -ize
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use -ize in a sentence
A marketing officer at tech startup M-ize in Tampa Bay, Florida, Burke included a picture of a sunset.
Slow Roll-out Builds Frenzied Anticipation for Google Glass | Nina Strochlic | May 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTFor whatever reason, we and our allies are not engaging these outlets to “Afghan-ize” our message and course corrections.
Roasted Clams With Baconby Julia della Croce The James Beard Award nominee shares her way to bacon-ize classic roasted clams.
Inconsistent hyphenation and inconsistent use of -ise and -ize spellings have been left as in the original.
Assimilative Memory | Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)Some of these foreign elements, like the -ize of materialize or the -able of breakable, are even productive to-day.
Language | Edward Sapir
Resolved, as your discriminating good sense perceives, that if you was to have a sap—pur—ize, it should be a complete one!
Our Mutual Friend | Charles DickensIze rascelled wid de Almighty 'till my hips was sore, but Ize nebber got it.
The Twin Hells | John N. ReynoldsNo one can defalcate in this particular; no one can Texas-ize and be quit of his transgressions and his onward travel.
British Dictionary definitions for -ize
to cause to become, resemble, or agree with: legalize
to become; change into: crystallize
to affect in a specified way; subject to: hypnotize
to act according to some practice, principle, policy, etc: economize
Origin of -ize
1usage For -ize
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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