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to reify

to reify

3 9.9
To think of an idea as a real thing
  • verb
  • /ˈreɪəˌfaɪ/
  • Formal
translation icon : reificar
  • When we reify abstract concepts like justice, we risk oversimplifying complex social issues.
  • sign is reified
  • reified identity
  • reified concept

One wonders, has he not also in this process reified, that is, made into a thing?

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Examples

  • Finding your voice as though it's something that's real and can be reified, right?

  • Rivera's private collection was Mexico's largest, a self-affirming assemblage that reified his success and his Mexicanidad.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Second, interests are not to be reified and considered independent from social groups.

    Academic text (2017)
  • One wonders, has he not also in this process reified, that is, made into a thing?

  • American scientists and academic experts reified their scientific knowledge into a variety of concrete programs in receiving countries.

    Academic text (2013)
  • Are fiesta cycles, thus, a political manipulation in order to reify a community?

    Academic text (1991)
  • However, in its own fiesta, each city celebrates and reifies a separate "personality," or culture.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Tourism is a vital part of the dialogic in which local Andalusian identity becomes reified.

    Academic text (1998)
  • To do so raises the danger of reifying cultural categories and, in their deconstruction, becoming analytical dead ends.

    Academic text (1992)
  • When these idea frameworks become reified and portray a perfect endpoint for a society, they become utopian visions.

    Academic text (2008)

Synonyms

to actualize
vsto reify
  • US
8 7.1

Make an idea or plan become real

perceives it as real without causing it to gain actual existence
to objectify
vsto reify
2 7.4

To make an idea or feeling into a real, visible thing

focuses on seeing it as real rather than merely representing it as an object
to substantiate
vsto reify
  • Formal
2 7.4

To make an idea seem real or clear to others

treats the idea as real in thought rather than actually making it real
to instantiate
vsto reify
  • Specialized
1 9.6

To show a general idea by giving a clear example

treats the concept itself as real rather than just providing an example
to concretize
vsto reify
  • US
1 7.9

To make an idea or plan clear and specific

shows it as real in perception without actually creating concrete form
to corporealize
vsto reify
  • Formal
1 9.9

To make an idea or feeling into something physical

regards the idea as real in thought rather than actually turning it physical
to hypostatize
vsto reify
  • Formal
9.9

To treat an idea as if it were a real thing

treats it as if real without claiming it truly exists
to hypostasize
vsto reify
  • Formal
9.9

To treat an idea or quality as a real, separate thing

is used widely beyond philosophical or theological contexts

Antonyms

6 7.3

To think about something in a general way without details

How Concrete

to reify
  • Formal
3 9.9
to abstract
6 7.3

Surface Forms

reify infinitive
reified past
reified past participle
reifying present participle
reifies third person singular

Morphology

reify = re + ify

Although formally analyzable as re- + -ify, the 're' element here is not the familiar English prefix meaning 'again' and the verb is a technical/abstract academic coinage, so learners cannot reliably derive the meaning from its parts.

Etymology

The word reify comes from the Latin word res meaning 'thing' and the ending -ify meaning 'to make', and it is like objectify. So, to reify is to 'make into a thing', to treat an idea or feeling as if it were a real, fixed object.