To place or understand something in historical context rather than as timeless.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- historicize a concept
- historicize a practice
On the page
The essay historicized the concept by tracing its changing use.
The analysis historicized the practice without assuming that its past form justified its present use.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- historicize
- Past tense
- historicized
- Past participle
- historicized
- Present participle
- historicizing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- historicize
- Present continuous
- am/is/are historicizing
- Present perfect
- have/has historicized
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been historicizing
- Past
- historicized
- Past continuous
- was/were historicizing
- Past perfect
- had historicized
- Past perfect continuous
- had been historicizing
- Future
- will historicize
- Future continuous
- will be historicizing
- Future perfect
- will have historicized
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been historicizing
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: academic / formal. Forms: historicize; historicizes; historicized; historicized; historicizing 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: institutional and conceptual change, philosophical orientation, qualification of recurrence and degree. Disciplines: academic writing, philosophy, cross-disciplinary analysis. Commonness: uncommon. Third-person singular: historicizes.
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