internalize

American  

[in-tur-nl-ahyz] / ɪnˈtɜr nlˌaɪz /

especially British, internalise

verb (used with object)

• internalizes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• internalized,
  past participle,  past
• internalizing
  present participle

1. to incorporate (the cultural values, mores, motives, etc., of another or of a group), as through learning, socialization, or identification.

2. to make subjective or give a subjective character to.

3. Linguistics. to acquire (a linguistic rule, structure, etc.) as part of one's language competence.

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internalize British  

/ ɪnˈtɜːnəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. Also: interiorize. (tr) psychol sociol to make internal, esp to incorporate within oneself (values, attitudes, etc) through learning or socialization Compare introject

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• internalization
  noun
• quasi-internalized
  adjective
• semi-internalized
  adjective
• uninternalized
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• internalizing
  present
• internalized
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• internalize
  simple
• internalizes
  simple
• have internalized
  perfect
• has internalized
  perfect
• am internalizing
  progressive
• are internalizing
  progressive
• is internalizing
  progressive
• have been internalizing
  perfect progressive
• has been internalizing
  perfect progressive

Past

• internalized
  simple
• had internalized
  perfect
• was internalizing
  progressive
• were internalizing
  progressive
• had been internalizing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will internalize
  simple
• will have internalized
  perfect
• will be internalizing
  progressive
• will have been internalizing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of internalize

First recorded in 1940–45; internal + -ize

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Explanation

If you feel anger, pain, fear or hurt but never show it, you internalize it — you keep it inside. If you think about the prefix inter- which always indicated something within, you have the meaning of the adjective internalize, "to keep or take something in." It can be used in either a positive or negative way. If you are a debater who internalizes a topic, then you know it inside and out. On the other hand, you're not doing yourself any favors if you internalize your guilt.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

internalize internalizes internalized internalizing

It feels inevitable that I’ve started to internalize its ticks, even the most infamous ones, like incessant em-dashing and overreliance on the “It’s not x but y” structure.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

The result, she said, is that consumers may internalize economic anxiety more intensely than they did during earlier periods of high inflation.

From Barron's ● May 27, 2026

“I didn’t deeply internalize how difficult it would be to build a foundation AI lab like OpenAI and Anthropic and the fact that they needed huge investments from the supplier themselves.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026

“They are unavoidable. You cannot internalize them and let them chip away at your self-worth.”

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 28, 2026

This helps students internalize the beat and phrases of the song.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Guided by previous research of spider brains, the scientists uncovered evidence of a "waste canal system" in the human brain that internalizes waste from healthy neurons.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2024

“Jean-Baptiste plays a woman who doles out misery and also, crucially, internalizes it, giving the character a humanity and sadness that’s absolutely transcendent,” says Glenn Whipp.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2024

He only internalizes the doubt enough to let it fire him up.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2024

Collins Jr. internalizes Jackson's emotions as he absorbs everything from a doctor's remarks about his health to his interactions with Gabriel or Ruth.

From Salon ● Dec. 29, 2021

So in his family of origin man internalizes ideas of "right-wrong," "appropriate-inappropriate," "expected-unexpected."

From Humanistic Nursing by Josephine G. Paterson

Like many who vied for and landed a competitive position, Mourabet internalized the sense that he was lucky to be there.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

Ford has internalized the humanity of filmmakers like Mike Leigh, Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Jim Jarmusch.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

"Rigid and persistent symptoms, such as paranoid ideas or an internalized critical voice, may be stable but not very flexible prediction models," says Stänicke.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 1, 2026

More than a decade into his political ascent, it’s remarkable how thoroughly the lesson of Donald Trump has been internalized by the apparatus around him.

From Salon ● May 18, 2026

When we sang those songs, we believed them, we internalized them, and we were ready to act on them.

From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry

“But the harsh lesson here is that people are really bad at internalizing exponentials—even people inside OpenAI.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026

“It ignored the young patients who would be in her clinic, exposed to her speech, and susceptible to internalizing ideas that may scar them for life,” they wrote.

From Slate ● Apr. 9, 2026

“For Nvidia, the long-term risk isn’t just rival chips, but key customers like Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and others steadily internalizing more of the value chain,” Dalfovo said.

From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025

“So thank you for being that unknowing inspiration behind the scenes. I was internalizing all of that love and putting it into that record.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2025

The song B-I-N-G-O is an excellent example in which to practice internalizing the pitch since the singer has to clap the rhythm and silently think the pitch in their head.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

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