anonymize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of anonymize
First recorded in 1855–60 for an earlier sense; the current sense was first recorded in 1970–75; anonym(ous) ( def. ) + -ize ( def. )
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:
“We design our products and services to protect people’s privacy because only DNA is harder to anonymize than human movements,” the company’s website says, quoting Georgetown law and privacy expert Paul Ohm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
After commiserating with my editor later that night, we decided to anonymize their account and strip most of the identifying details out of this column.
From Slate ● Feb. 3, 2024
Knight says the analysis shows that the current methods microbiome researchers use to filter out human DNA and anonymize samples simply don’t work well enough.
From Science Magazine ● May 15, 2023
Update, December 12, 2022: This piece has been updated to anonymize the names of two sources.
From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2022
They could attempt to stop HeLa research through a lawsuit, arguing that it’s impossible to anonymize Henrietta’s cells, which contain their DNA.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
The service I used all those years ago, Talkspace, recently launched an AI chatbot that’s, in part, trained on the company’s database of text messages between therapists and customers, which have been vetted and anonymized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Concern over the data collected by telematics and other companies has been driven by breaches, illegal sales and the growing ability to “re-identify” the source of the data even when it has been anonymized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Never input prompts with information that can be tied back to you, even if it’s anonymized later.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
L.H.’s name was not anonymized in court documents.
From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2026
“That’s the end-goal, a citywide network with all-we-can eat free connectivity, fully anonymized and hardened against malicious attackers and incidental environmental interference.”
From Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow
The closing credits display a CIA address on Tor, an anonymizing network.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
Carefully anonymizing survivors while breathlessly chasing a client list of powerful men unintentionally sends a message about who matters most.
From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2025
“By anonymizing themselves, they’re indicating that they are not accountable to any sort of public.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2025
The study adds to a growing body of knowledge about what anonymizing funding applications can—and can’t—do.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 18, 2024
The success of efforts like the Globe’s and the Plain Dealer’s depends on making sure the process of anonymizing, updating, or deindexing coverage—the speed bumps—doesn’t introduce other issues.
From Slate ● Feb. 16, 2021
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
