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Synonyms

externalization

American  
[ik-stur-nl-uh-zey-shuhn] / ɪkˌstɜr nl əˈzeɪ ʃən /

noun

  1. the act or process of externalizing.

  2. the quality or state of being externalized.

  3. something that is externalized.


Etymology

Origin of externalization

First recorded in 1795–1805; externalize + -ation

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:

Despite its contradictory history as a symbol of democracy built by enslaved people, it is a blameless externalization of America.

From Salon Mar. 20, 2025

Interludes in which the accusing faces of prisoners silently fill the frame act as a sort of externalization of his survivor’s guilt.

From Los Angeles Times May 2, 2024

There’s a hunger for entertainment that favors unflinching articulation and externalization over implication and internalization — to have our greatest fears verbalized without restraint, even heavy-handedly, along with a good deal of style and wit.

From New York Times Jan. 23, 2022

In screenwriting, though, externalization is everything, and her characteristic restraint was her signal contribution to the other great triangle of her life: Jhabvala, Merchant, Ivory.

From The New Yorker Dec. 31, 2018

“Then I suppose that the externalization of our thought in our consciousness constitutes what we call space, does it not?”

From Carmen Ariza by Stocking, Charles Francis

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