internalize.

1. To incorporate a learned belief, expectation or pattern into one’s own thinking or behavior.

2. To bring costs or consequences previously borne outside a decision or transaction into its own accounting or incentives.

3. To take a substance, object or process from outside into a cell or other system.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• internalize a norm
• internalize an expectation

On the page

The character internalized an expectation she later found difficult to question.

The study examined how participants internalized a norm rather than assuming that every compliant response showed acceptance.

Usage notes

Primary category: economics / business / social science. Forms: internalize; internalizes; internalized; internalized; internalizing 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: internalizes.