nominalize

American  

[nom-uh-nl-ahyz] / ˈnɒm ə nlˌaɪz /

especially British, nominalise

verb (used with object)

nominalizes, present (3rd person singular) nominalized, past participle, past nominalizing present participle

1. to convert (another part of speech) into a noun, as in changing the adjective lowly into the lowly or the verb legalize into legalization.

2. to convert (an underlying clause) into a noun phrase, as in changing he drinks to his drinking in I am worried about his drinking.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nominalization
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• nominalizing
  present
• nominalized
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• nominalize
  simple
• nominalizes
  simple
• have nominalized
  perfect
• has nominalized
  perfect
• am nominalizing
  progressive
• are nominalizing
  progressive
• is nominalizing
  progressive
• have been nominalizing
  perfect progressive
• has been nominalizing
  perfect progressive

Past

• nominalized
  simple
• had nominalized
  perfect
• was nominalizing
  progressive
• were nominalizing
  progressive
• had been nominalizing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will nominalize
  simple
• will have nominalized
  perfect
• will be nominalizing
  progressive
• will have been nominalizing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of nominalize

First recorded in 1650–60; nominal + -ize

Explanation

To nominalize is to take a verb, adjective, or other part of speech and transform it into a noun. One of the most common ways to nominalize is by adding -ing to a verb, changing "walk" to "walking." Nominalize is from nominal, "pertaining to nouns," and its Latin root, nomen, "name." Some words are nominalized by adding a suffix — and there are dozens of these endings, including -ing, -tion and -ity. It's good to watch out for places where you nominalize, because this can make your writing dull and passive. "I came to the decision to eat lunch," which nominalizes "decide" into "decision," is less direct than "I decided to eat lunch."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nominalized nominalizing

It may still be nominalized; inikwihl’minih’isit-’i means “the former small fires in the house, the little fires that were once burning in the house.”

From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Sapir, Edward

It may be definitely nominalized or verbalized by the affixing of elements that are exclusively nominal or verbal in force.

From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Sapir, Edward

The nominalizing -’i and the indicative -ma are not fused form-affixes, they are simply additions of formal import.

From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Sapir, Edward