Latinize

American  

[lat-n-ahyz] / ˈlæt nˌaɪz /

especially British, Latinise

verb (used with object)

Latinized, Latinizing

1. to cause to conform to the customs, traditions, beliefs, etc., of the Latins or the Latin Church.

2. to intermix with Latin elements.

3. to translate into Latin.

4. to make Latin American in character.

   The influx of Cuban immigrants has Latinized Miami.

5. Romanize.

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verb (used without object)

Latinized, Latinizing

1. to use words and phrases from Latin.

   He Latinizes in his poetry.

Latinize British  

/ ˈlætɪˌnaɪz /

verb

1. to translate into Latin or Latinisms

2. to transliterate into the Latin alphabet

3. to cause to acquire Latin style or customs

4. to bring Roman Catholic influence to bear upon (the form of religious ceremonies, etc)

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Other Word Forms

• Latinization
  noun
• Latinizer
  noun
• de-Latinization
  noun
• half-Latinized
  adjective
• un-Latinized
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of Latinize

First recorded in 1580–90; < Late Latin latīnīzāre “to translate into Latin”; see Latin, -ize

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Latinize Latinized Latinizing

He would paganize, Latinize and Mediterraneanize the genius of Europe.

From Suspended Judgments Essays on Books and Sensations by John Cowper Powys

He owed his aristocratic name to the custom, prevalent in those days, to Latinize all vulgar appellations.

From Essays on Scandinavian Literature by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

One day when Sapidus called over the list of the scholars, he said, 'I find many barbarous names, I must try to Latinize them.'

From Pictures of German Life in the XVth XVIth and XVIIth Centuries, Vol. I. by Gustav Freytag

I should be sorry if Canadians ever began to Latinize their sentences, to "can" their speech and pickle it in the vinegar pedantry of the peeved study-chair critic.

From The Canadian Commonwealth by Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut

Another circumstance contributed to Latinize the German races outside of Germany.

From A History of Germany From the Earliest Times to the Present Day by Bayard Taylor

Dudamel opened with a Latinized version of Strauss’ “Tritsch-Tratsch Polka,” with which he once astonished the Viennese at their traditional New Year’s concert, and repeated Romero’s “Fuga.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

For some reason along the way the spelling became Latinized to Uranus, and the pronunciation seems to have followed suit.

From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2022

But if we go down south, then we run into people who are Latinized indigenous people.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2018

The album, which sold a reported 2 million copies, included Latinized versions of standards such as “My Yiddishe Momme,” “Raisins and Almonds” and “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon.”

From Washington Post ● Aug. 23, 2016

This backward-looking astronomer had been born in 1611, which perhaps explains his old-fashioned attitude, and christened Johann Höwelcke, but Latinized his name to Johannes Hevelius.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

Michael Pauw of Amsterdam acquired this land in 1630 and called it “Pavonia,” or “Land of the Peacock” which he derived by Latinizing his own name.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022

In his younger days, Mr. Fields specialized in Latinizing standards.

From New York Times ● Aug. 22, 2016

His cumbersome style, "my Latinizing way of writing English," he attributes to "my classical education."

From Time Magazine Archive

Find examples of alliteration in xix; of balance in xxxvii; and of Latinizing in xix; xxxvi; xxxviii, and xl.

From Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I by Edmund Spenser

This Latinizing was so thorough that it weathered all storms, and, in the countries affected by it, was the parent of new and vigorous nationalities, the French, the Spaniards, the Portuguese and the Rumanians.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel" by Various

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