externalize

American  

[ik-stur-nl-ahyz] / ɪkˈstɜr nlˌaɪz /

especially British, externalise

verb (used with object)

• externalizes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• externalized,
  past participle,  past
• externalizing
  present participle

1. to make external; embody in an outward form.

2. to regard as consisting of externals.

3. to regard or treat as being caused by externals; attribute to external causes.

   to externalize one's difficulties.

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

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externalize British  

/ ɪkˈstɜːnəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. to make external; give outward shape to

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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• externalization
  noun
• nonexternalized
  adjective
• semiexternalized
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• externalizing
  present
• externalized
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• externalize
  simple
• externalizes
  simple
• have externalized
  perfect
• has externalized
  perfect
• am externalizing
  progressive
• are externalizing
  progressive
• is externalizing
  progressive
• have been externalizing
  perfect progressive
• has been externalizing
  perfect progressive

Past

• externalized
  simple
• had externalized
  perfect
• was externalizing
  progressive
• were externalizing
  progressive
• had been externalizing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will externalize
  simple
• will have externalized
  perfect
• will be externalizing
  progressive
• will have been externalizing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of externalize

First recorded in 1850–55; external + -ize

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Explanation

If you externalize something, you show or express it on the outside. You can externalize your anger at the poor quality of the food at the restaurant, but the other patrons would probably prefer you didn't rant at the waiter in front of them — so would the waiter. Psychologically speaking, externalize is the opposite of internalize. You can externalize your fears in a constructive way by writing about them or drawing them, which will help you make sense of them. This is a much better solution than internalizing your fears, because you need to face them and deal with them once and for all. If you keep them bottled up, it is just like to cause you anxiety.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

externalize externalizes externalized externalizing

“The economic pain is worse, but Iran has found a way during the course of the war to externalize that pain,” Batmanghelidj said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

For Rodrigo, music is a vehicle for “expressing those feelings that are really hard to externalize, or that you feel aren’t societally acceptable to externalize,” she told the New York Times.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023

But there are certain people that become so frenzied around human beings that are compelled to externalize their inner life, and there’s a jealousy thing that drives people crazy.

From Seattle Times ● May 25, 2022

But, to externalize Irene’s internal thoughts and her sublimated identity, the movie makes what is suggested in the novel far more explicit.

From New York Times ● Nov. 19, 2021

“That’s what I mean. You have to tell me everything, externalize it all for me, so I can write it.”

From "The River" by Gary Paulsen

Phthalate exposure is just one way the plastics industry externalizes harms.

From Salon ● Feb. 9, 2024

As Irene’s tension mounts, the film externalizes it through other symbols: a loudly ticking grandfather clock, a pot of water boiling over and even her breaking a teapot at a midday social in her home.

From New York Times ● Nov. 19, 2021

The genre externalizes our anxieties and allows us to exorcise their manifestations onscreen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2017

I realized this past summer that this friend is self-absorbed and externalizes blame, and that I tend to feel drained in her presence.

From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2017

The Greeks trusted to nature, trusted the natural propensity of the mind, trusted language above all, in so far as it naturally externalizes thought.

From Creative Evolution by Arthur Mitchell

However, the moment the democracy debate becomes externalized, many Indians become irritated and end up closing ranks against “outsiders.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2023

In contrast, Joe imagines a rich inner life that he externalized in destructive ways.

From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2023

When I needed to, I externalized my reasons—how it would upend the lives of my husband, my family, my friends.

From Slate ● May 18, 2022

He’s made a film where one man’s internal strife has been effectively externalized as an inescapable, picturesque purgatory.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2022

Here was her humanity externalized, and all her longing—for freedom, from disgust, from the confines of her metal cage.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Cam’s confusion is represented by externalizing his inner voice into a double, “the angel on my shoulder and, honestly, sometimes the devil,” with whom he argues, like a difficult imaginary friend.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025

Research has long suggested a link between mothers' mental health during pregnancy and children's externalizing behaviors.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2023

This helped him to come to grips with the seismic turns his life was taking and also, by externalizing them, to release some anxiety about them.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 5, 2023

How do we avoid forms of tourism that can advertise low prices because they are exploiting workers, using the dirtiest fuel available, and externalizing the costs of pollution?

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 23, 2022

It cannot grasp the true, interior and spiritual meaning, except in just so far as intellect is capable of externalizing them.

From The Light of Egypt; or, the science of the soul and the stars — Volume 2 by Thomas H. Burgoyne

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