infantilize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to keep in or reduce to an infantile state.
-
to treat or regard as infantile or immature.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of infantilize
1940–45; infantile + -ize, or by back formation from infantilization
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:
On the one hand, they are weaponizing your acts of kindness, like driving Daniel to medical appointments, as acts of control and perhaps attempts to infantilize him.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026
Public policy shouldn’t infantilize people simply because minors might misuse a product.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025
We are seeing adult women who aggressively reject society's efforts to infantilize them.
From Salon ● Jan. 3, 2024
Nor am I against the idea of confronting children with something genuinely dark and audacious, especially given how quick the film industry usually is to infantilize its youngest consumers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2019
I don’t want to infantilize my own mother, but seeing her struggle with this and asking questions like “Why would my dad do this?” are hard for me to react to.
From Slate ● Oct. 25, 2018
In a break between shows that night, she said was gratified that the comedians hadn’t infantilized the neurodivergent crowd.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2024
But other lawyers said they felt infantilized or distrusted by monitoring software that gave no weight to their experience or careers.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 11, 2021
It could be that America’s unqualified assurances of unabashed support kept the Saudis in an infantilized state.
From Slate ● Oct. 11, 2021
That song makes me feel like I’m infantilized or something.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 9, 2020
When grown men are infantilized, most don’t take to it nicely.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
Family systems are, by design, infantilizing to the youngest members, and that hierarchy can persist for both parents and their children, regardless of how much money anyone earns.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 7, 2026
His “gruff” father had little time for such infantilizing obeisance and would resist as best he could.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
“Elderly female action star” is a cute premise, but Margolin makes the most of it without infantilizing his heroine or otherwise resorting to lowest common denominator humor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2024
It may seem weird, even infantilizing, for so many women to refer to themselves as such, but this linguistic trend isn't a step back for feminism — it's a reclamation of girlhood.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2023
Meanwhile, it would be infantilizing to say that retail investors need to be saved from themselves, aren’t smart enough to use apps like Robinhood safely, and would be better off paying commissions.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2022
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
