Synonyms

reify

American

[ree-uh-fahy, rey-] / ˈri əˌfaɪ, ˈreɪ- /

verb (used with object)

reified, reifying

to convert into or regard as a concrete thing.

to reify a concept.

reify British

/ ˈriːɪˌfaɪ /

verb

(tr) to consider or make (an abstract idea or concept) real or concrete

"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

reification noun
reificatory adjective
reifier noun

Etymology

Origin of reify

First recorded in 1850–55; from Latin rē(s) “thing” + -ify

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.

We play by a code of conduct, that nebulous thing we have reified as “international law.”

From The Wall Street Journal

While it gave Indians something they’d lacked for multiple centuries of their own history—concrete data about themselves—it also “reified,” or made concrete, the religious category of “Hindu,” the majority of India’s population.

From The Wall Street Journal

Each count, Mr Teltumbde argues, "did not merely record caste, but reified and hardened it".

From BBC

We see this push for closure reified across American culture.

From Los Angeles Times

The brain latches on or compares itself to others, starting a negative cycle of thinking that can reify itself.

From Seattle Times

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