internalize
Americanverb (used with object)
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internalizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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internalized,
past participle, past
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internalizing
present participle
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to incorporate (the cultural values, mores, motives, etc., of another or of a group), as through learning, socialization, or identification.
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to make subjective or give a subjective character to.
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Linguistics. to acquire (a linguistic rule, structure, etc.) as part of one's language competence.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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internalizationnoun
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quasi-internalizedadjective
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semi-internalizedadjective
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uninternalizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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internalizesimple
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internalizessimple
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have internalizedperfect
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has internalizedperfect
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am internalizingprogressive
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are internalizingprogressive
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is internalizingprogressive
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have been internalizingperfect progressive
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has been internalizingperfect progressive
Past
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internalizedsimple
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had internalizedperfect
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was internalizingprogressive
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were internalizingprogressive
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had been internalizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of internalize
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.
Vocabulary lists containing internalize
Selection Vocabulary 1, Unit 1
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The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen
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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:
And be sure that you “fully internalize and can speak to” the words you’re sending, she says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Bird designed tools to help the kids budget, and holds weekly money meetings to check in and reinforce the ideas she hopes her children, now 11, 9 and 8 years old, will internalize.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 4, 2026
“When young voices, and voices from marginalized communities tend to be silenced, sometimes we internalize that and silence ourselves,” Valenzuela said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026
It’s important to do your own research and internalize why you own a stock.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
A good way to internalize the rhythm is to by first learning the rhyme, then adding the body percussion.
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
He only internalizes the doubt enough to let it fire him up.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
It’s how the system internalizes within myself and makes me hate myself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2022
His speeches and body language are commanding as he internalizes all of his guilt and his tyranny surges.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2021
So in his family of origin man internalizes ideas of "right-wrong," "appropriate-inappropriate," "expected-unexpected."
From Humanistic Nursing by Josephine G. Paterson
China’s AI labs have internalized this lesson with remarkable discipline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 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
This movie’s nail-biting, sorrowful power comes from what internalized destruction looks like.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
When she finds out what Margo’s doing, her internalized shame at having worked at Hooters once upon a time resurfaces.
From Salon ● May 4, 2026
As much as I found Robbie to be snippy and inflexible, I’d also internalized her devotion to rigor.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
According to the authors, some cells may reduce their response by internalizing or breaking down GLP-1 receptors.
From Science Daily ● May 25, 2026
Amazon, as it has grown, has built out its logistics capabilities, internalizing some of its shipping needs and offering services to its third-party sellers.
From Barron's ● May 4, 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
Europe is moving toward internalizing security costs and building fiscal capacity.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 17, 2026
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
Definitions 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.
