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to biologize

to biologize

8.0
To explain, study, or treat something using ideas about living things
  • verb
  • /baɪˈɑːləˌdʒaɪz/
translation icon : biologizar
  • One possible way to fight the standardization of art, as the Nasci foreword proposed, was to biologize it.

Examples

  • For all these reasons, it was not difficult for many Europeans to biologize their perceptions of the civilizational inferiority of other cultures.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Scientists often attempt to biologize social behavior by analyzing genetic influences on human interactions.

  • In the 1970s to 1990s, evolutionary biologists have "biologized" moral philosophy, as expressed by a title such as "The Selfish Gene" (1976) by Richard Dawkins.

    Blog text (23)
  • While she calls for equality in all aspects of public and private life, including marriage and fulfilling work outside the home, the ethic that lies at the root of much of her feminism seems to biologize and essentialize the caretaking and nurturing traits assigned by patriarchy to women.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • The research team aims to biologize climate change impacts by studying how ecosystems adapt to varying temperatures.

  • Many educators strive to biologize learning by incorporating biological concepts into their teaching methods.

Synonyms

to naturalize
vsto biologize
  • US
1 6.7

To explain something by nature or science instead of by magic

focuses specifically on biological principles and methods rather than general natural causes

Surface Forms

biologize infinitive
biologized past
biologized past participle
biologizing present participle
biologizes third person singular

Morphology

biologize = biology (transparent) = biology + ize

Formed by adding the productive verb-forming suffix '-ize' to 'biology', giving the predictable meaning 'to treat or explain in biological terms'.

Etymology

Biologize comes from bio- meaning 'life' and the ending -ize meaning 'to make or treat'. Like the familiar word biology, to biologize something is to explain or treat it with biological ideas, which is why we use it when people explain behaviour or social issues by reference to life or the body.