Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to universalize

to universalize

1 7.5
To make an idea or rule apply to people everywhere
  • verb
  • /ˌjunɪˈvɜr səˌlaɪz/
translation icon : universalizar
  • The new policy aims to universalize education so that every child has access to quality schooling.
  • universalizing tendency
  • universalizing stance
  • universalizing claims

Being able to apply the criteria of can you universalize this action?

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Dance carries both the universalizing ideas of aesthetics and the real-time experience of an individual self.

    Academic text (2014)

  • The end of cruelty depends on universalizing material prosperity, but it requires more.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Being able to apply the criteria of can you universalize this action?

    Gregory B. Sadler - That Philosophy Guy

  • So this one has to do with universalizing actions.

  • On the other hand, "they" too engage in a routine practice of universalizing.

    Academic text (1991)

  • PB: We must also avoid universalizing a particular way of reading that is an institution with a history.

    Academic text (2002)

  • On the contrary, the particularity of God becoming human disrupts any attempt to universalize faith.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Indeed, the man's suit (Western) has become almost universalized in all parts of the world.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Thus, works of Native American literature are assimilated into a universalizing canon of European literary forms.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Tocqueville's participatory teaching is an attempt to universalize, as far as possible, the proud experience of aristocratic rulers.

    Academic text (1992)

Synonyms

to generalize
vsto universalize
  • US
5 4.6

To change something so many people can understand and use it

make it apply everywhere and to everyone rather than fit popular tastes

Antonyms

to particularize
1 7.8

To give specific details about a person or thing

How Universal

to universalize
1 7.5
to globalize
  • US
4 5.4
to generalize
  • US
41 4.2
to localize
  • US
23 4.8
to specialize
  • US
7 3.8

Surface Forms

universalize infinitive
universalized past
universalized past participle
universalizing present participle
universalizes third person singular

Morphology

universalize = universal (transparent) = universal + ize

The verb is productively formed from the adjective 'universal' with '-ize' meaning 'make or render', so the meaning 'make universal' is directly predictable.

Etymology

Universalize comes from universe, with uni- meaning 'one' and the ending -ize meaning 'make'. So to universalize something is to 'make' it apply to everyone or to turn it into a general idea.