collectivize

American  

[kuh-lek-tuh-vahyz] / kəˈlɛk təˌvaɪz /

especially British, collectivise

verb (used with object)

collectivized, collectivizing

1. to organize (a people, industry, economy, etc.) according to the principles of collectivism.

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collectivize British  

/ kəˈlɛktɪˌvaɪz /

verb

1. (tr) to organize according to the principles of collectivism

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Other Word Forms

• collectivization
  noun
• decollectivize
  verb (used with object)

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Etymology

Origin of collectivize

First recorded in 1890–95; collective + -ize

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Explanation

To collectivize is to give up individual ownership of an industry and form a collaborative group instead. In the early 1930s, the Soviet Union collectivized almost all of its agricultural land into large-scale shared farms. Collectivize means "to form into a collective," a term that’s most often associated with communism. In the Soviet Union, it was Joseph Stalin who came up with the idea of collective farms as a way to boost productivity and free peasants from poverty. However, some historians see collectivization as one of the causes of the Soviet Union's terrible famines during the 1930s.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

collectivize collectivized collectivizing

“It stems from this different place where people tend to collectivize us in their imagination.”

From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2021

“It’s one thing to think we can collectivize agriculture,” he said.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 26, 2020

The way to make more walruses and reindeer was to collectivize their herding and killing.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 15, 2019

Is doing so essential somehow for society’s psychological well-being, an attempt to collectivize experience increasingly diffused by the distractions of the internet?

From New York Times ● Aug. 2, 2019

He has moved much faster than other district leaders to collectivize farming and socialize industry.

From Time Magazine Archive

During communism, all land in Albania was collectivized.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

When property was collectivized, his family used the land to farm potatoes, onions and other crops.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

These “magical” individuals are presented here as collectivized into a secret organization whose members gain supernatural abilities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2024

In her campaign kickoff speech, Ms. Williamson, 70, made no talk of exorcising the “dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred” in American politics or of calling New Zealand as her first act in office.

From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2023

Under Communist rule the Vlachs, mostly herdsmen, have been incorporated into the collectivized economy.

From Area Handbook for Albania by Sarah Jane Elpern

It may seem surprising that, of all cities, Houston — built on a go-it-alone oil business culture — decided to tackle homelessness by, in effect, collectivizing its homeless relief system.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 14, 2022

These people weren’t resisting having their property collectivized; they were committed to collectivizing property.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2015

“Earth” transcends its origins as an assignment to exalt the collectivizing of Soviet agriculture to become a mystical rumination on nature’s cycles of death and rebirth.

From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2012

The man in charge of collectivizing the economy is Che Guevara, head of the National Bank.

From Time Magazine Archive

Almost invariably, collectivizing or communalizing farms deadens initiative.

From Time Magazine Archive

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