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
Some thought, especially in retrospect, that Ross immersed himself too deeply in micromanaging peace, that his approach tended to infantilize the region’s players and made them too dependent on outside powers.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2025
Burnett never insists that they’re the sane ones, nor does he infantilize Fish and Poinsettia’s afflictions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025
They are under constant surveillance and live in the insular world of social media, which does less to inform them than to infantilize and isolate them from a larger public.
From Salon ● May 22, 2022
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
In “Barbarian,” similarly, AJ’s status is weakened, Davis said: “He’s been infantilized and his agency has been removed.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 21, 2023
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
You’re being put in a ridiculous position, not because talking to younger relatives is inherently demeaning, but because you’re being singled out and infantilized simply because you’re not married.
From Slate ● Mar. 1, 2021
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
In a way, he's sort of infantilizing her by pulling his punches and not saying that he doesn't like the writing that she's doing at the moment.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 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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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
