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.

---

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

---

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

Etymology

Origin of internalize

First recorded in 1940–45; internal + -ize

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

Expect that cost to grow as investors internalize the notion that the Fed may not always allow itself to become a backstop.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 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

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

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 28, 2026

But other industry players distanced themselves from BP rather than internalize the lessons.

From Slate ● Jan. 14, 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

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

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

"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

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

And we’re all learning, in real time, what happens when the resulting fury is internalized at a mass scale.

From Slate ● May 1, 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

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 study found that suboptimal learners, who were seemingly less efficient at internalizing the task at the early stages of learning, experienced an accelerated accuracy improvement while performing the task when receiving atDCS.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2024

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