personalize
Americanverb (used with object)
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personalizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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personalized,
past participle, past
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personalizing
present participle
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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:
And it now allows users to select preferred news sources to personalize top stories that appear in search results, potentially driving more traffic to those sites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
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
“By stripping out the ability to personalize or target them, you’re not really saving discounts at all,” Drew Ambrogi, a policy manager at Chamber of Progress, said in an interview with Salon.
From Salon ● May 18, 2026
Target-date retirement funds are a reasonable default, Bogardus said, but they “can also cause investors to miss opportunities to personalize their strategy around their specific income needs as retirement approaches.”
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026
And we all know how successful Strunk and White were in forbidding to personalize, to contact, and six people.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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
“Dance First” may not be especially Beckettian, but it personalizes a figure who, destined for the pantheon, never doubted that he was human — all too human.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2024
Rick Owens personalizes the experience with a white fabric neckpiece bearing the guest’s name.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
Love, pity, personalizes everything, we have said; in discovering the suffering in everything and in personalizing everything, it personalizes the Universe itself as well—for the Universe also suffers—and it discovers God to us.
From Tragic Sense Of Life by Flitch, J. E. Crawford (John Ernest Crawford)
“The team is also doing some really fantastic work around using technology to be more effective,” Gorin said, noting that the company is developing agentic systems to create personalized ads on a large scale.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
However, the researchers advised people to speak with a registered dietitian nutritionist or physician for personalized guidance before making dietary changes.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
If future prospective research confirms the findings, diabetes prevention may need to become more personalized.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
Large online lenders offer speed and digital convenience, but they can lack personalized guidance.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
When the casts were placed on her arms and legs, she personalized them with Magic Marker daisies and fluffy clouds.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Millions of Americans have tried the drugs, which have revolutionized the way physicians treat weight loss, but personalizing who gets which drugs is still a long way off — if it ever happens.
From MarketWatch ● May 18, 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
Swift performed the ultimate public display of affection as a popstar by personalizing a song lyric for him.
From Salon ● Nov. 14, 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.
