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Americanize

American  
[uh-mer-i-kuh-nahyz] / əˈmɛr ɪ kəˌnaɪz /
especially British, Americanise

verb (used with or without object)

  • Americanizes,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • Americanized,
    past participle,  past
  • Americanizing
    present participle
  1. to make or become American in character; assimilate to the customs and institutions of the United States.


Americanize British  
/ əˈmɛrɪkəˌnaɪz /

verb

  1. to make or become American in outlook, attitudes, etc

"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

Other Word Forms

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Inflected Forms

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Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

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Etymology

Origin of Americanize

An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800; American + -ize

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

And his character is complex in novel ways: The child of Chinese immigrants, Alexander was reared by people almost desperate to Americanize themselves, and he too has a hunger to be accepted.

From The Wall Street Journal Dec. 26, 2025

The unabashed attempts to Americanize the English soccer experience range from musical acts as pregame entertainment to the addition of club seats — with waiter service and lounge access — and members-only bars inside stadiums.

From New York Times May 4, 2024

An unnerving and compelling series in its own right, it also offers a primer on how to Americanize a tale without ruining it.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 9, 2015

As a part of their plan to Americanize the tribes, reformers sought legislation to replace this concept with the popular Euro-American notion of real estate ownership and self-reliance.

From Textbooks Dec. 30, 2014

“And what better way to Americanize the children than to buy a car!”

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

I don't care that chef Eddie Americanizes recipes.

From New York Times Apr. 9, 2018

Figuring out which direction each of these pastors pulled—toward a Christian nation or an Americanized Christianity, or both—might have added fine print to Mr. Sutton’s catalog of believers.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 19, 2026

Francisco and his wife, Lucia, left Mexico for a better life in the early 1900s, so it’s hard to imagine what they would make of their thoroughly Americanized descendants today.

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 18, 2025

Those fast-food kids were becoming Americanized, in all kinds of ways.

From Slate Nov. 13, 2025

Since its statehood in 1959, Hawaii has become highly Americanized but now Native Hawaiians have been steadfast in preserving their fading cultural norms and traditions, reports said.

From Salon Jan. 9, 2025

Soon I became as Americanized as my classmates—most of whom were two or three generations removed from their immigrant ancestors, and all of whom were children of middle-class parents.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

Many Canadians despise him for Americanizing their game, but he devised a program to aid Canada-based teams when currency disparities handicapped them.

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 30, 2023

He was born in 1947 into a ruined, Americanizing Japan, and before he was out of his teens he was joining in happenings and performances with The Play, an Osaka-based collective.

From New York Times Oct. 1, 2020

It broke several records on Spotify and YouTube, and opened more doors for Latin music to be integrated on pop radio without watering down or Americanizing its songs.

From Washington Times Jan. 22, 2018

But while he has sought a resolution of the Syrian civil war, Mattis in 2013 warned against Americanizing what would be a “very, very serious war”.

From The Guardian Dec. 1, 2016

The public schools have thus far been found adequate to Americanizing the children of foreign immigrants.

From The American Judiciary by Baldwin, Simeon E., LLD

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