personalize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to have marked with one's initials, name, or monogram.
to personalize stationery.
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to make personal, as by applying a general statement to oneself.
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to ascribe personal qualities to; personify.
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to design or tailor to meet an individual's specifications, needs, or preferences.
a personalized search engine;
personalized learning.
verb
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to endow with personal or individual qualities or characteristics
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to mark (stationery, clothing, etc) with a person's initials, name, etc
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to take (a remark, etc) personally
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another word for personify
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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personalizesimple
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personalizessimple
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have personalizedperfect
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has personalizedperfect
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am personalizingprogressive
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are personalizingprogressive
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is personalizingprogressive
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have been personalizingperfect progressive
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has been personalizingperfect progressive
Past
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personalizedsimple
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had personalizedperfect
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was personalizingprogressive
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were personalizingprogressive
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had been personalizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of personalize
Explanation
To personalize is to design something (or change it) so it's distinctly suited for one specific individual. You can personalize your locker by taping up family photos, or personalize your water bottle by writing your name on it in permanent marker. The verb personalize is often used to mean "make to meet your specific requirements," so a hotel might personalize your visit by leaving a note with chocolates on your pillow, or a barista might personalize your latte with a design on top that's specially made for you. You can also personalize things by putting a person's name or initials on them: "I bought letter patches so we can personalize our backpacks."
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:
The company said it does not engage in surveillance pricing, nor does it personalize fares for individual customers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
Updating hardware like cabinet handles, showerheads and doorknobs is an inexpensive way to personalize your space and add character, says Monique Valeris, home-design director at the Good Housekeeping Institute.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026
If you bought a bat last year and live in a place where the baseball season starts in April, Dick’s can personalize a message reminding you to buy a new one in March.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
However, scientists have not fully understood how it works inside the human brain, which has made it difficult to refine and personalize this treatment.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 8, 2026
Some people personalize events excessively, resisting an external perspective, and since numbers and an impersonal view of the world are intimately related, this resistance contributes to an almost willful innumeracy.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
Your image of the virtual self personalizes your financial journey.
From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026
Cincinnati-based Kroger is testing Google’s shopping agent, which helps customers compare grocery items, personalizes their shopping experience and can handle purchasing, according to Yael Cosset, the company’s chief digital officer and executive vice president.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
Velour personalizes her journey from social outcast to the fabulous 2017 winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2024
“It personalizes the person in need — their personality and the tangible specificity of their needs and goals.”
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2023
For everything that it loves, everything that it pities, love personalizes.
From Tragic Sense Of Life by Flitch, J. E. Crawford (John Ernest Crawford)
Banks — and especially community banks that will go on to actually service the mortgage — can also offer more personalized service.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
Large online lenders offer speed and digital convenience, but they can lack personalized guidance.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
FanDuel, in turn, could counter by pointing out that Harper agreed to create the video as part of his relationship with Cameo, a company that connects fans with celebrities and creators for personalized digital interactions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Looking ahead, the Stein Institute for Research on Aging hopes to use these findings to develop personalized "aging dashboards" based on epigenetic clocks.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
Finally, to complete my ’80s super-vehicle theme, I’d slapped a Ghostbusters logo on each of the DeLorean’s gullwing doors, then added personalized plates that read ECTO-88.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
There’s also been a wave of new research aimed at personalizing care.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 7, 2026
Greetings, writing messages on cups, personalizing the hand off of orders, offering ceramic mugs and glass cups for people ordering drinks to stay, and cleaning the lobby and condiment bar were Starbucks’s top concerns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2025
The findings are a major step in personalizing cancer treatment and inspiring novel therapies that target and inhibit ARID1A and its protein complex.
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2024
And once you — and I’m personalizing this now, because the film requires this of its audience — once you have these things, what are you willing to disassociate from in order to keep them?
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2023
Grandma had stitched illustrations of my palm print into the dashiki, personalizing it to me.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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.
