individualize

American  

[in-duh-vij-oo-uh-lahyz] / ˌɪn dəˈvɪdʒ u əˌlaɪz /

especially British, individualise

verb (used with object)

individualized, individualizing

1. to make individual or distinctive; give an individual or distinctive character to.

2. to mention, indicate, or consider individually; specify; particularize.

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individualize British  

/ ˌɪndɪˈvɪdjʊəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. to make or mark as individual or distinctive in character

2. to consider or treat individually; particularize

3. to make or modify so as to meet the special requirements of a person

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Other Word Forms

• individualization noun
• individualizer noun
• overindividualization noun
• unindividualized adjective

Etymology

Origin of individualize

First recorded in 1630–40; individual + -ize

Example Sentences

The researchers hope that the results of this study will help to identify elbow injuries in children who play baseball and to individualize treatment based on skeletal maturity.

From Science Daily • Nov. 30, 2023

The production would be stronger if more effort were made to further individualize the subordinate characters.

From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2023

“This is allowing individual parents to individualize a curriculum for their own worldview.”

From Washington Post • Nov. 30, 2022

“When you individualize and talk about individual stories, those stories are hard and very difficult,” Ms. Ardern told Newshub, a New Zealand news outlet, in February.

From New York Times • Oct. 30, 2022

However, he who cannot individualize character must keep to the broader kinds of melodrama and farce, and above all to that last asylum of time-honored types—musical comedy.

From Dramatic Technique by Baker, George Pierce