individualize

American  

[in-duh-vij-oo-uh-lahyz] / ˌɪn dəˈvɪdʒ u əˌlaɪz /

especially British, individualise

verb (used with object)

individualized, individualizing

1. to make individual or distinctive; give an individual or distinctive character to.

2. to mention, indicate, or consider individually; specify; particularize.

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individualize British  

/ ˌɪndɪˈvɪdjʊəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. to make or mark as individual or distinctive in character

2. to consider or treat individually; particularize

3. to make or modify so as to meet the special requirements of a person

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Other Word Forms

• individualization noun
• individualizer noun
• overindividualization noun
• unindividualized adjective

Etymology

Origin of individualize

First recorded in 1630–40; individual + -ize

Example Sentences

The researchers hope that the results of this study will help to identify elbow injuries in children who play baseball and to individualize treatment based on skeletal maturity.

From Science Daily • Nov. 30, 2023

“It helps to humanize and individualize the vastness of the Holocaust and personalize history that is sometimes only communicated through statistics,” she added.

From Washington Post • Dec. 16, 2022

“But in the end,” she adds, “there’s always going to be something to individualize your handwriting from somebody else.”

From Scientific American • Aug. 2, 2022

Indeed, she initially declined the offer to write it, not wanting “to contribute to the already widespread tendency to personalize and individualize history.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2022

The males were dyed red, the females blue; various areas of the body were colored in order further to individualize the birds.

From Comparative Breeding Behavior of Ammospiza caudacuta and A. maritima by Woolfenden, Glen E.