Romanize

American  

[roh-muh-nahyz] / ˈroʊ məˌnaɪz /

especially British, Romanise

verb (used with object)

Romanized, Romanizing

1. to make Roman Catholic.

2. (often lowercase) to make Roman in character.

3. (often lowercase) to render in the Latin alphabet, especially a language traditionally written in a different system, as Chinese or Japanese.

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verb (used without object)

Romanized, Romanizing

1. to conform to Roman Catholic doctrine and practices; to become Roman Catholic.

2. (often lowercase) to follow Roman practices.

Romanize British  

/ ˈrəʊməˌnaɪz /

verb

1. (tr) to impart a Roman Catholic character to (a ceremony, practice, etc)

2. (intr) to be converted to Roman Catholicism

3. (tr) to transcribe or transliterate (a language) into the Roman alphabet

4. to make Roman in character, allegiance, style, etc

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Other Word Forms

• Romanization
  noun
• Romanizer
  noun

Etymology

Origin of Romanize

First recorded in 1600–10; Roman + -ize

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Romanize Romanized Romanizing

It was possible, it was easy, to Romanize these western peoples.

From The Romanization of Roman Britain by Haverfield, F. (Francis)

It is perhaps fanciful to suggest that we are now suffering the penalty of the failure of Rome to Romanize, that is to say, to civilize their Teutonic neighbours.

From The Unity of Civilization by Various

By alloting the land, the Latin race and Latin tongue would help to Romanize territory already conquered by Roman arms.

From Public Lands and Agrarian Laws of the Roman Republic by Stephenson, Andrew

My son," she said, "I need not tell you not to let them Romanize you.

From Beric the Briton : a Story of the Roman Invasion by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)

The church and the nation, however, were strongly Protestant and were soon alarmed by his efforts to Romanize the country.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 4 "England" to "English Finance" by Various

Zhou Youguang created the Pinyin system of Romanized Chinese, which vastly increased literacy in China and eased the agonies of foreigners studying the language.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2017

Bagel-making was still a skilled trade then, restricted to members of the International Beigel Bakers Union, as the name was Romanized after the organization was founded in New York in 1907.

From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2015

The earliest written version of the name Jesus is Romanized today as Iesous.

From Slate ● Dec. 19, 2013

Korean rice cakes, Romanized as tteok, are a staple ingredient in the country’s cuisine.

From Washington Post

All these characteristics made the Romanized Greek tragedies immensely popular; but, strangely enough, this did not develop a truly national Roman tragedy, as was the case, for instance, with epic and lyric literature.

From Studies in the Poetry of Italy, I. Roman by Miller, Frank Justus

“The Presbyterians not only succeeded in Romanizing the spoken Taiwanese language but also provided services such as education and healthcare that other churches did not provide,” she said.

From Seattle Times ● May 18, 2022

The Romans, as is well known, used two agencies with great effect in Romanizing their newly acquired territory, viz., colonies and roads.

From The Common People of Ancient Rome Studies of Roman Life and Literature by Abbott, Frank Frost

Josephus, though he knew of the city's Romanizing leanings, had negligently or deliberately failed to occupy it, so that the place was lost without a blow.

From Josephus by Bentwich, Norman

It is therefore his purpose to show that all the sedition was of John's making, while it would seem more probable that the disturbances arose because the Romanizing aristocrats were planning surrender.

From Josephus by Bentwich, Norman

As they had lost all hope of resisting him, they calmly accepted the situation, and the foundation of the subsequent Romanizing of the west of Europe was laid.

From The Story of Rome from the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic by Gilman, Arthur