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)

Etymology

Origin of collectivize

First recorded in 1890–95; collective + -ize

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

I watched that community collectivize to get things done.

From New York Times • Jun. 8, 2022

“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

This week Premier Zapotocky of Czechoslovakia hastened to reassure the people that he had no plans to collectivize the land.

From Time Magazine Archive