systematize

American  

[sis-tuh-muh-tahyz] / ˈsɪs tə məˌtaɪz /

especially British, systematise

verb (used with object)

• systematizes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• systematized,
  past participle,  past
• systematizing
  present participle

1. to arrange in or according to a system; reduce to a system; make systematic.

   Synonyms:

   articulate, order, organize

---

systematize British  

/ ˈsɪstɪməˌtaɪz /

verb

1. (tr) to arrange in a system

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• resystematization
  noun
• systematization
  noun
• systematizer
  noun
• oversystematize
  verb (used with object)
• resystematize
  verb (used with object)
• nonsystematized
  adjective
• quasi-systematized
  adjective
• unsystematized
  adjective
• unsystematizing
  adjective
• well-systematized
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• systematizing
  present
• systematized
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• systematize
  simple
• systematizes
  simple
• have systematized
  perfect
• has systematized
  perfect
• am systematizing
  progressive
• are systematizing
  progressive
• is systematizing
  progressive
• have been systematizing
  perfect progressive
• has been systematizing
  perfect progressive

Past

• systematized
  simple
• had systematized
  perfect
• was systematizing
  progressive
• were systematizing
  progressive
• had been systematizing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will systematize
  simple
• will have systematized
  perfect
• will be systematizing
  progressive
• will have been systematizing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of systematize

1755–65; < Greek systēmat- (stem of sýstēma ) system + -ize

Explanation

To systematize is to organize things into coherent groups or according to a specific plan. If cleaning your room feels overwhelming, you should systematize the job, breaking it down into orderly steps first. Whenever you arrange or organize something with a system in mind, you're systematizing. Math teachers systematize the subject before attempting to explain it to students, sorting concepts into an order that makes sense and organizing lessons so they gradually increase in difficulty. To teach your dog to shake your hand with his paw, you first need to systematize your training, starting with "sit," and working your way methodically toward your goal.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

systematize systematizes systematized systematizing

“The CEO’s attention flits onto something else, and they never systematize the change,” Sigelman said.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2024

Home economics started out as a way to systematize how you kept house so you did it as efficiently as possible.

From Salon ● May 9, 2021

“He said at some point some genius would arise who would know how to systematize color, but until then you have to use your intuition.”

From Washington Post ● Mar. 19, 2020

For years we’ve opted not to make a massive public investment in elder care, or to systematize and formalize the ad hoc system it has created.

From Slate ● Mar. 11, 2020

Pascal went on to clarify and systematize Galileo’s new understanding.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

This is, after all, a country that systematizes: we create seminars on how to make friends, teach classes in grieving and make pet walking a profession.

From Time Magazine Archive

This book so condenses and systematizes general military instruction and the work done at Plattsburg so that it may be easily utilized in training other troops.

From Military Instructors Manual by Oliver Schoonmaker

"I don't see that" "Well, I may be wrong, but my notion is that what systematizes a life is choice; and choice, I believe, means choice of what we hold to be good."

From The Meaning of Good—A Dialogue by G. Lowes (Goldsworthy Lowes) Dickinson

It's all right to plan your work; that's economy in mental expenditure, for it simplifies, systematizes, and saves work.

From Think A Book for To-day by Col. Wm. C. Hunter

Conscience, thus, differs from moral science, which, though it systematizes the body of conclusions drawn from the natural and positive laws, is not able to make the applications for the innumerable cases that arise.

From Moral Theology A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities by Charles Jerome Callan

“In general, at the studios, they systematized the production design, so that it was fast,” Kanjo said, describing the rigid process as militaristic.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

As industrialization boomed across the world, time became standardized and systematized to meet the deadlines of false daylight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

This dialogue is the first part of a diagnostic interview between a psychiatrist and a patient who has systematized delusions of persecution.

From Scientific American ● Feb. 1, 2023

Aristotle systematized Plato’s conception of ethics based upon his conception of the self and his four causes.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 15, 2022

After the invention of the fact, testimony could be approached with a form of systematized distrust.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

“We are systematizing a lot of things,” Capt. Yoshihiro Iwata, 44, said when the frigate was docked recently in Sasebo, in southwestern Japan.

From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 2023

I think about, “How do I create these businesses so that they have great leadership? Am I doing enough mentoring or enough systematizing of my own brain?”

From The Verge ● Aug. 2, 2022

“Although with her departure a wealth of especially valuable empirical knowledge is lost in linguistic terms, the possibility of rescuing and systematizing the language remain open,” she said.

From Reuters ● Feb. 17, 2022

He is credited with revolutionizing the celebrity security industry, inventing methods to evaluate the likelihood of threats, and rigorously systematizing security protocols.

From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2019

So Athens became the center of a burgeoning rhetoric industry, and with that came an increasing interest in systematizing the art.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith