Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To grant full citizenship to (one of foreign birth).
- v. To adopt (something foreign) into general use.
- v. To adapt or acclimate (a plant or animal) to a new environment; introduce and establish as if native.
- v. To cause to conform to nature.
- v. To become naturalized or acclimated; undergo adaptation.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To reduce to a state of nature: identify with, or make a part of, nature.
- To make natural; render easy and familiar by custom and habit.
- To confer the rights and privileges of a natural subject or citizen upon; receive under sanction and form of law as a citizen or subject. See naturalization.
- To receive or adopt as native, natural, or vernacular; incorporate into ormake part and parcel of a language; receive into the original or common stock: as, to naturalize a foreign word or expression.
- So to adapt to new conditions of life that those conditions shall appear to be native to the person or thing naturalized; to introduce and acclimatize or cause to thrive as if indigenous: as, to naturalize a foreign plant or animal.
- In musical notation, to apply a natural or cancel (♮) to.
- To explain phenomena by natural laws, to the exclusion of the supernatural.
- To become like a native.
- To become a citizen of another than one's native country. Also spelled naturalise.
Wiktionary
- v. To grant citizenship to someone born abroad
- v. To acclimatize an animal or plant
- v. To make to appear more natural
- v. To limit explanations of a phenomenon to naturalistic ones and exclude supernatural ones
- v. To make (a word) a natural part of (the language)
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To make natural.
- v. To confer the rights and privileges of a native subject or citizen on; to make as if native; to adopt, as a foreigner into a nation or state, and place in the condition of a native subject.
- v. To receive or adopt as native, natural, or vernacular; to make one's own.
- v. To adapt; to accustom; to habituate; to acclimate; to cause to grow as under natural conditions.
- v. To become as if native.
- v. To explain phenomena by natural agencies or laws, to the exclusion of the supernatural.
WordNet 3.0
- v. adopt to another place
- v. make into a citizen
- v. adapt (a wild plant or unclaimed land) to the environment
- v. make more natural or lifelike
- v. explain with reference to nature
Examples
“We use the term naturalize, that is, to make natural born, in the same sense.”
“One way to naturalize is to toss the bulbs in the air, and then plant them where they fall.”
“In almost every aspect of my life I feel the need to reevaluate and further "naturalize" my way of living.”
“The very term "naturalize," with which we denote the initiation of a foreigner, is a confession that the nation is not a social contract but a natural relation.”
“As we grow accustomed to our techniques and artifacts we tend to "naturalize" them.”
“What's next … is he going to "naturalize" the vasectomy?! sign up by email.”
“However, if FCBs keep heavily subsidizing the US Treasury with 1\% note auctions as the evidence (I will put up a comment on today's 5 year auction later) this week suggests, then the 2nd and 3rd quarters will begin to "naturalize" into more standard recessionary rather than depressionary conditions.”
“Solomon wishes to "naturalize" spirituality starting from the standpoint that, in his words, "if spirituality means anything it means thoughtfulness" (p. 5).”
“Anyone who follows genealogy knows that the feds did not naturalize until late in the nineteenth century.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Feds May Sue Arizona Over Immigration
“Contrariwise, I very much like Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast" series, which -- at least the first two books, which I think are the core ones -- is fantasy, in the sense that no attempt is made to "explain" or "naturalize" the world of the narrative.”
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