essentialize

English

Etymology

From essential +‎ -ize.

Verb

essentialize (third-person singular simple present essentializes, present participle essentializing, simple past and past participle essentialized)

1. (transitive) To reduce (something) to its essence.
2. (transitive) To misrepresent (something) by oversimplifying a summary of its essence.
   • 2007 July 21, Neela Banerjee, “Camp Joins Summer Fun With Teaching Hindu Faith”, in New York Times‎:

     “This is an essentializing of Hinduism,” Ms. Narayanan said, “and the diversity of Hinduism in India is lost here.”

3. (transitive) To misrepresent (a characteristic of something) by falsely portraying it as essential to the whole (that is, implying that it defines the whole's essence).

   to essentialize race by stereotyping "what Whites do" or "how Blacks think"

Derived terms

• essentialization
• essentializer

Related terms

• essential
• essentialism
• essentialist
• essentialistic

Translations

to reduce to its essence

French: essentialiser (fr) German: essentialisieren