alphabetize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to put or arrange in alphabetical order.
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to express by or furnish with an alphabet.
verb
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to arrange in conventional alphabetical order
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to express by an alphabet
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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alphabetizationnoun
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alphabetizernoun
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misalphabetizeverb (used with object)
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unalphabetizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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alphabetizesimple
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alphabetizessimple
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have alphabetizedperfect
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has alphabetizedperfect
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am alphabetizingprogressive
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are alphabetizingprogressive
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is alphabetizingprogressive
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have been alphabetizingperfect progressive
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has been alphabetizingperfect progressive
Past
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alphabetizedsimple
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had alphabetizedperfect
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was alphabetizingprogressive
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were alphabetizingprogressive
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had been alphabetizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of alphabetize
Explanation
To alphabetize is to arrange something in order of the letters of the alphabet. You might alphabetize your spices on the rack in you kitchen, with allspice first and za'atar last. Part of a librarian's job is to alphabetize books, both on the shelf and in a computer database. If you put together a directory of club members, you might alphabetize their names, and if you've ever looked up a number in a phone book, you're probably glad the printer alphabetized the listings. Alphabetize comes from alphabet, which is rooted in the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta.
Vocabulary lists containing alphabetize
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:
It’s going to be a long list, so you can click on the “Process Name” heading to alphabetize the list for an easier find.
From The Verge ● Jul. 6, 2021
Pause for an embarrassed silence … All my adult life I’ve kept vowing to alphabetize my library, but I never had the time — I was far too busy searching for books I couldn’t find.
From New York Times ● Oct. 22, 2020
They tinkered with computers, programming them to alphabetize their homework.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 1, 2016
“We just want to alphabetize the word honki to make it catchy,” the broadcaster said in a statement Tuesday to The Japan Times.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 29, 2015
To arrange alphabetically; as, to alphabetize a list of words.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah
My wife then divides hers into region and alphabetizes them by last name of author, but I am too lazy.
From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2020
There’s one that can help me when I dine out and another that alphabetizes my favorite recipes, like an ingredients-only weight loss cookbook.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2016
This, in his view, had multiple advantages, which he alphabetizes as Affiliation, Bonding, Categorization, Discernment, Employment, Freedom and God.
From Time Magazine Archive
Sister Rose is so organized that she alphabetizes her kitchen so that the allspice would be stored next to the ant poison.
From Time Magazine Archive
With her latest book, she took 10 years of her diaries and alphabetized them by the first letter of the first word of each sentence, then cut the book down into the volume published.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2024
A small bookcase near the front door holds Ms. Milligan’s alphabetized DVD collection of 1960s and ’70s television series, most snagged from the $5 bin at Target.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
Her spices were alphabetized, her cutlery all had to face the same direction in the drawer and her chocolate chip cookies were somehow all identical.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2022
Each shelf was completely full of titles, which were perfectly alphabetized and separated by genre.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021
Then there is behavioral residue, which is defined as the inadvertent clues we leave behind: dirty laundry on the floor, for instance, or an alphabetized CD collection.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
Often, the instinct is to just begin: grab a garbage bag, empty the freezer, start wiping baseboards, briefly consider alphabetizing your spices.
From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2026
People who do well with visual cues, she says, should consider clear containers, labels, color coding and alphabetizing.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2021
In fact, I’m buying and alphabetizing compact discs again.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2018
Marshall said he is in the process of alphabetizing the others, as well as attaching information on the wrench and the company it came from.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 19, 2017
I can’t put everything back together or I’ll find myself alphabetizing all the books and taping the map back together.
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
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.
