localize
Americanverb (used with object)
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localizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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localized,
past participle, past
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localizing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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localizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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localized,
past participle, past
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localizing
present participle
verb
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to make or become local in attitude, behaviour, etc
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(tr) to restrict or confine (something) to a particular area or part
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(tr) to assign or ascribe to a particular region
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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localizationnoun
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localizernoun
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unlocalizeverb (used with object)
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localizableadjective
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nonlocalizableadjective
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nonlocalizedadjective
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unlocalizableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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localizesimple
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localizessimple
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have localizedperfect
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has localizedperfect
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am localizingprogressive
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are localizingprogressive
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is localizingprogressive
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have been localizingperfect progressive
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has been localizingperfect progressive
Past
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localizedsimple
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had localizedperfect
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was localizingprogressive
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were localizingprogressive
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had been localizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of localize
Explanation
To localize is to focus on a small, specific area. The newspaper in your city might localize half of their news coverage, concentrating on just your state. A doctor or dentist will localize pain treatment in certain cases, like when you get a novocaine shot in your gums before getting a cavity filled. Rather than a general painkiller affecting your whole body, this focuses only on the part of your mouth that's affected. You can also localize by adapting something to a specific location. A rural school might localize its schedule by opening later in the fall to allow students to help on family farms, for example.
Vocabulary lists containing localize
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:
Fragmentation compels banks and asset managers to localize balance sheets and hold excess capital, constraining cross-border intermediation and dampening growth.
From Barron's ● Mar. 4, 2026
He is pressing ahead with a roughly $30 million expansion of his factory in Tennessee, convinced that he needs to localize more production in the U.S. to sidestep tariffs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
They acknowledge and make efforts to localize experiences for American fans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2024
The nearly 10,000-square-foot office at Key Center will serve as a hub for Shein’s U.S. fulfillment and logistics operations as the retailer seeks to localize and speed up delivery times for U.S. customers.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2024
These the physician can localize more exactly by reason of this knowledge.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 4 "Bradford, William" to "Brequigny, Louis" by Various
The text is by the California poet Dana Gioia, who seamlessly localizes paradise as a place to be preserved.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2023
Dowdy didn’t specify what steps Netflix plans to take as part of its new initiative to ensure that shows and movies’ original voices are maintained as the streamer localizes them.
From The Verge ● May 19, 2022
Tacoma author Marcia Crews, who also wrote “Three Bears of the Pacific Northwest,” localizes another fairytale in her new book, set once-upon-a-time on the Salish Sea.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 15, 2018
It localizes state by state, and county by county, what it actually costs for a family with children to survive.
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2018
In fact, although religion confuses value and existence, it localizes the great value-forms outside of existence.
From Creative Intelligence Essays in the Pragmatic Attitude by Boyd H. Bode
According to an analysis published in the Atlantic, “natural experiments” involving public surveillance cameras in Medellín, Colombia, and Stockholm recorded 19% and 25% reductions in localized crime, respectively, after cameras were introduced.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
There have been at least six nationwide blackouts this year, with countless localized dayslong power outages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
As of June, there have been three localized measles outbreaks in California this year, all of which have been resolved.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026
There have been at least five nationwide blackouts this year and countless localized cuts.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
The bleep grew larger, localized now, between his ribs on the right side.
From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier
Meanwhile, the company’s strategy of localizing production will likely mitigate geopolitical risks, he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
The turning point came in the 1980s, when operators began aggressively localizing the concept.
From Barron's ● Mar. 21, 2026
But eventually, Yang believes, localizing production will be necessary to better expand in promising markets including Japan, Korea and Singapore.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2025
Some models were designed to create a vortex, which, through its shear pattern, localized cooperators within a ring while pushing cheaters to the outer rim of the environment -- essentially localizing cooperation.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 6, 2024
So much with respect to errors in the localizing of future events.
From Illusions A Psychological Study by James Sully
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.
