personalization

[ pur-suh-nl-ahy-zey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act or process of marking with one’s initials, name, or monogram:

   Each book has a leather cover, marbled endpapers, and a nameplate for personalization.

2. the act or process of making a general statement, work, etc., into one that is particular to an individual:

   The Writing Your Novel class will focus on observation, personalization, and realization of character.

   The game deliberately uses fear and terror to enhance the personalization and subjectivity of the events and to increase their impact.

3. the act or process of portraying people with an emphasis on their human characteristics:

   The camp’s goal in bringing together children from both sides of the conflict is to encourage personalization and humanization of the other side.

4. the act or process of tailoring something to meet an individual's specifications, needs, or preferences:

   The new learning and assessment models allow for personalization of instruction for each student.

   As end users continue to get more demanding, customization and personalization play an increasingly vital role in the success of any software platform.

Word History and Origins

Origin of personalization¹

personaliz(e) ( def ) + -ation ( def )

Example Sentences

Accessorizing provides an effect similar to personalization or customization, like West and Trecartin mentioned.

From Slate

I love stuff, especially stuff that feels like it might add an element of personalization in a society that so often subscribes to materialistic monoculture.

From Slate

Silver said during a news conference on June 6, before Game 1 of the N.B.A. finals, that streaming “allows for tremendous additional functionality when it comes to watching games, personalization, customization of games, multiple feeds, multiple dialects, multiple languages, different camera angles. It really gives the fan enormous additional choice that you don’t have through traditional television.”

From New York Times

That personalization of each list, however, has resulted in pretty disparate standards for boycotting.

From Slate

The MIT researchers wanted to develop a similar type of monitoring, but in a manner that is automated and enables real-time drug personalization, which could result in better outcomes for patients.

From Science Daily