historicize

American  

[hi-stawr-uh-sahyz, -stor-] / hɪˈstɔr əˌsaɪz, -ˈstɒr- /

especially British, historicise

verb (used without object)

historicized, historicizing

1. to interpret something as a product of historical development.

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verb (used with object)

historicized, historicizing

1. to narrate as history; render historic.

Etymology

Origin of historicize

First recorded in 1840–50; historic + -ize

Example Sentences

I’ve long tried to historicize ideas that people hold.

From Slate • Apr. 13, 2026

When I teach Butler’s novels to my students, we use them to interpret our present moment as well as to historicize it in relationship to the long history of racism and sexism.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 25, 2022

It is a question he does not answer as much as historicize:

From The New Yorker • Nov. 26, 2019

The more contemporary internet history — the stuff that we’re living in now — I feel like I’m just too close to it to really historicize it.

From The Verge • Mar. 5, 2018

The last, to historicize, I sealed in an envelope and mailed to myself.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee