verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of codify
Explanation
To codify is to arrange information in a logical order that others can follow. Legislators may try to codify, or gather and organize, all laws related to a particular issue. When you look at the word codify you can probably guess that it's related to the word code. Warriors live by a code. Building inspectors check that a building and its systems are up to code. Hockey players use "the code" to determine when — and why — to fight on the ice. All of these codes are clear to the people who use them because someone in the past made an effort to codify the various rules into an organized system.
Vocabulary lists containing codify
Vocabulary from the Twelfth Republican Debate, March 10, 2016
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Content Summary 4.7: Early Modern Western Society and Culture
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President Obama's Remarks on Spying Scandal
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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:
Third, codify traditional race-neutral principles as the governing standard for redistricting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
The poor conditions were also the backdrop for a push in 1980 by the New Progressive Party governor at the time, Carlos Romero Barceló, to codify voting rights for prisoners.
From Salon ● May 6, 2026
"In the Writing categories, the rules codify that screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible."
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump said he would ask Congress to "codify" the plan and would discuss it further at the Davos World Economic Forum later this month.
From BBC ● Jan. 7, 2026
He had tried to codify the evil uses of might by individuals, so that he might set bounds to them by the impersonal justice of the state.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Spokespeople say the deal is predicated on their agreement being codified into a bill within the next week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
That principle is unimpeachable and should be codified.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
The justices could choose to focus on a 1952 law passed by Congress that codified birthright citizenship and not wade into the larger constitutional debate, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law expert.
From BBC ● Apr. 1, 2026
“There is a method to how these decisions historically have been made — a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements,” Murphy wrote.
From Salon ● Mar. 18, 2026
They were in the process of being codified into law when Hsu called Day.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
“What is the problem of codifying in law that you’re not allowed to?” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 1, 2026
The state secretary for digitalisation, Alexander Pröll, from the conservative ÖVP, said that a draft bill codifying the ban would be presented by the end of June.
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2026
Stewart describes the platform as codifying best practices he’s relied on for decades — but at a scale and speed no individual agent could match.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
They also recalled little pushback when DHS formally banned chokeholds and other tactics in 2023; it was merely codifying the norm.
From Salon ● Jan. 14, 2026
Having abandoned medicine and theology he got called to the Bar, practised for a while with distinct success, and coquetted with a notion of codifying the laws of the realm.
From The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault by Clarke, Harry
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.
