externalize

[ ik-stur-nl-ahyz ]
See synonyms for externalize on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),ex·ter·nal·ized, ex·ter·nal·iz·ing.
  1. to make external; embody in an outward form.

  2. to regard as consisting of externals.

  1. to regard or treat as being caused by externals; attribute to external causes: to externalize one's difficulties.

  2. to direct (the personality) outward in social relationships.

Origin of externalize

1
First recorded in 1850–55; external + -ize
  • Also especially British, ex·ter·nal·ise .

Other words from externalize

  • non·ex·ter·nal·ized, adjective
  • sem·i·ex·ter·nal·ized, adjective

Words Nearby externalize

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use externalize in a sentence

  • You cannot perform or externalize your vanity as overtly as Bieber did without again emphasizing to the world you are a jerk.

  • A change of will can always manifest itself in action but it is very difficult to externalize convincingly a mere change of heart.

    Play-Making | William Archer
  • Then live these in your mind, making no room for unclean thought, and you will externalize them in your body.

    Thoughts I Met on the Highway | Ralph Waldo Trine
  • Gora Dwight had told him that he must learn to "externalize his emotions," and he felt that here was the supreme opportunity.

    Black Oxen | Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
  • We encounter language as we continuously externalize our biological and cultural identities in the act of living as human beings.

  • Ideas express the implicit will of the human being to externalize them (what Marcuse called "the imperative quality" of thought).

British Dictionary definitions for externalize

externalize

exteriorize (ɪkˈstɪərɪəˌraɪz), externalise or exteriorise

/ (ɪkˈstɜːnəˌlaɪz) /


verb(tr)
  1. to make external; give outward shape to

  2. psychol to attribute (one's own feelings) to one's surroundings

Derived forms of externalize

  • externalization, exteriorization, externalisation or exteriorisation, noun

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