1. To give outward expression or form to an internal feeling, idea or process.
2. To shift costs, risks or consequences to people or entities outside the relevant decision or transaction.
3. To attribute causes, responsibility or difficulty chiefly to sources outside oneself.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- externalize a feeling
- externalize a conflict
On the page
The scene externalized the character’s conflict through her repeated handling of the unopened letter.
The exercise asked participants to externalize a feeling without treating one expression as a complete diagnosis.
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- externalize
- Past tense
- externalized
- Past participle
- externalized
- Present participle
- externalizing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- externalize
- Present continuous
- am/is/are externalizing
- Present perfect
- have/has externalized
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been externalizing
- Past
- externalized
- Past continuous
- was/were externalizing
- Past perfect
- had externalized
- Past perfect continuous
- had been externalizing
- Future
- will externalize
- Future continuous
- will be externalizing
- Future perfect
- will have externalized
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been externalizing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: economics / business / social science. Forms: externalize; externalizes; externalized; externalized; externalizing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: economic process explanation, financial distinction, incentive analysis, institutional change. Disciplines: economics, business, public policy. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: externalizes.
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