contextualize
Americanverb (used with object)
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contextualizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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contextualized,
past participle, past
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contextualizing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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contextualizesimple
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contextualizessimple
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have contextualizedperfect
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has contextualizedperfect
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am contextualizingprogressive
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are contextualizingprogressive
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is contextualizingprogressive
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have been contextualizingperfect progressive
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has been contextualizingperfect progressive
Past
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contextualizedsimple
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had contextualizedperfect
-
was contextualizingprogressive
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were contextualizingprogressive
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had been contextualizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of contextualize
First recorded in 1930–35; contextual + -ize
Explanation
When you contextualize something, you provide important and relevant background information to make it easier to understand or explain. In other words, you provide context. If you're learning about a historical event, your teacher might contextualize it by explaining what else was happening in the world at that time: What circumstances set the stage for that particular event? What were people's mindsets at the time, and why? Wars, for example, don't just happen. There are situations, cultural norms, prior events, and ways of thinking that lead to them. Contextualizing is like adding details to a story to make the whole narrative make sense.
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:
"TRACE allowed us to contextualize how the ancestry segments from these previously uncharacterized hominins are distributed throughout the human genome," Biddanda said.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
As we reflect on America’s 250th year, we highlight artworks on display at museums across Los Angeles that contextualize and challenge what it means to be American.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
“These things were obviously true, and the knowledge undoubtedly helped doctors contextualize their patients’ problems.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2026
His attempt to contextualize his comments in a LinkedIn post Friday backfired.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
It is the Bible and the tradition of the Church which provides the textual testimony; the circumstances contextualize the testimony and accompany it.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
"Black Mirror" most often contextualizes technology straightforwardly as “bad.”
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2025
“Because it’s set on this vintage Hollywood soundstage, the director, Martin Gas, he contextualizes the ersatz vision of Japan because he puts a frame around it,” LA Opera CEO Christopher Koelsch said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 3, 2024
Molly Olmstead contextualizes the controversy and argues that the Sisters’ work is hardly at odds with the work of religious sisters generally.
From Slate ● Jun. 6, 2023
She contextualizes the legacy of Mexican feminism with the story of the protesters who demonstrated for justice after a teenager was raped by police officers.
From New York Times ● Feb. 26, 2023
A composer who often contextualizes with music from the past in unexpected ways, he riffs on the famous watery opening of “Das Rheingold,” conflating Cleopatra’s Nile to Wagner’s Rhine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2022
The detail that the average person takes 450 selfies a year is powerful, especially when contextualized against their disposability—compared, for example, with the daguerreotype.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The Angels have since contextualized that quote to point out that Moreno was talking about what fans were seeking in deciding to attend a specific game, not about their fandom in general.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
Real history is much more than just dates, facts and characters; it also encompasses how they are interpreted and contextualized.
From Salon ● May 14, 2026
“Not an unbounded and unlimited entity with high degrees of autonomy – but AI that is carefully calibrated, contextualized, within limits.”
From Barron's ● Apr. 4, 2026
But the Picture of the Year prize opted to recirculate an image that was not captured or contextualized in print as an indictment.
From Slate ● Apr. 11, 2024
He suggested a “three-prong approach” to contextualizing the topic of “holdover” fires.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
“I think I need to find a balance of contextualizing it without thinking like I’m patronizing people.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2025
It opens by contextualizing the dispute, framing the dispute in a way that is favorable to the narrative that they want to tell.
From Slate ● Jan. 18, 2024
But embedded in such restrictions one may infer either a resistance to having his work pushed to the fringes, or a pretension in contextualizing it as a mainstream experience.
From New York Times ● Aug. 7, 2023
Critical race theory is an approach to contextualizing our understanding of race.
From Salon ● May 30, 2023
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.
