mongrelize

American

[muhng-gruh-lahyz, mong-] / ˈmʌŋ grəˌlaɪz, ˈmɒŋ- /

especially British, mongrelise

verb (used with object)

mongrelized, mongrelizing

to subject (a breed, group, etc.) to crossbreeding, especially with one considered inferior.
to mix the kinds, classes, types, characters, or sources of origin of (people, animals, or things).
to make debased or impure.

The French they speak is mongrelized.

mongrelize British

/ ˈmʌŋɡrəˌlaɪz /

verb

(tr) to make mixed or mongrel in breed, race, character, kind, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of mongrelize

First recorded in 1620–30; mongrel + -ize

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:

mongrelized

“Migrations,” with its suggestion of an itinerant and even mongrelized cultural legacy, sets the stage nicely for her: it’s an album suffused with awareness of tradition but breezy about its debts.

From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2013

When he learned that the NBC Symphony was to follow in an "evening of great music" such musically mongrelized but star-studded programs as the Telephone Hour, Toscanini, said Variety, "had all he could take."

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023