to infantilize
- verb
- /ɪnˈfæntɪlaɪz/
- Formal
- The teacher's constant praise and excessive supervision began to infantilize the students, making them reliant on her for even the simplest tasks.
- infantilize women
- infantilize black women
And I'm like, I'm not going to infantilize the human body that way.
- And I'm like, I'm not going to infantilize the human body that way.
- So no, stop infantilizing terror supporters.
- You're pathetic for infantilizing them, for lack of better term.
- This reads not necessarily why, but I feel like it reads infantilizing.
Examples
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But it's unnecessary, infantilizing, and dangerously close to the state medicalizing the issue.
Blog text (34) -
I said, well, if they go on putting themselves in harm's way, you can't infantilize these people.
-
We may infantilize those perceived as weaker or unable to care for themselves.
Academic text (1999) -
But it kind of infantilized him in a way that I thought was a little too much.
-
VH1 is not the only network that features shows that infantilize black women.
Academic text (2013) -
If you don't want to infantilize them, take them at their word.
Blog text (21) -
Yoga culture, at least thus far, is infantilizing, especially for women.
Blog text (10) -
Any adult with the sense God gave a goose would object to being infantilized.
Blog text (9) -
However, this therapeutic approach to crime is paternalistic: it infantilizes where we ought to insist on adult accountability.
Academic text (2003) -
By continuing to accept the blame he's willing to assign you, you and Janice continue to infantilize him.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
To treat someone with too much care and make things too easy for them
To act like someone is less able in a motherly way
How Patronizing
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Infantilize comes from the word infant, which means 'baby', plus the ending -ize, meaning 'to make'. So to infantilize someone is to 'make' them like a baby, that is, to treat them as less mature than they really are.