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relativize

[ rel-uh-tuh-vahyz ]
/ ˈrɛl ə təˌvaɪz /
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verb (used with object), rel·a·tiv·ized, rel·a·tiv·iz·ing.
to regard as or make relative.
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Also especially British, rel·a·tiv·ise .

Origin of relativize

First recorded in 1930–35; relative + -ize

OTHER WORDS FROM relativize

rel·a·tiv·i·za·tion, noun

Words nearby relativize

relativist, relativistic, relativistic mass, relativistic quantum mechanics, relativity, relativize, relator, relatum, relaunch, relax, relaxant
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use relativize in a sentence

  • India’s countless folk communities are in dire need of funding and technical and creative upskilling to relativize themselves in an increasingly globalized world.

    He Helps Folk Musicians Stay Alive|Daniel Malloy|October 9, 2020|Ozy

  • The full idiocy of conspiricism at its dreariest has thus been summoned to relativize the crime and, in so doing, deny it.

    Naming Europe’s New Anti-Semitism|Bernard-Henri Lévy|June 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for relativize

relativize

relativise

/ (ˈrɛlətɪvaɪz) /
verb
to make or become relative
(tr) to apply the theory of relativity to

Derived forms of relativize

relativization or relativisation, noun
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
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