minoritize

[ mahy-nawr-i-tahyz, -nor- ]

verb (used with object)

1. to make (a person or group) subordinate in status to a more dominant group or its members:

   Though women constitute a majority of employees, they are routinely minoritized, passed over for promotion, and poorly represented in upper management.

2. Linguistics. to devalue (a language), often by granting official status and thereby higher prestige to another, competing language in the same community:

   French policies minoritized the Picard dialect until it was seriously endangered—today it has fewer than 500,000 native speakers.

Other Words From

• mi·nor·i·tized adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of minoritize¹

First recorded in 1980–85; minorit(y) ( def ) + -ize ( def )