Wiktionary

concretization

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

concrete +‎ -ization

Noun edit

concretization (countable and uncountable, plural concretizations)

  1. (uncountable) The process of concretizing a general principle or idea by delineating, particularizing, or exemplifying it.
    • 1934, J. Tinbergen, “Annual Survey of Significant Developments in General Economic Theory,”, in Econometrica, volume 2, number 1, page 25:
      There are certain fields in general economics that are at present not so much in need of a broadening of the theoretical basis as in need of a minute working-out and concretization.
    • 1961, H. Kelsen, General Theory of Law and State, page 237:
      [Law] proceeds from the general (abstract) to the individual (particular); it is a process of increasing individualization and concretization.
  2. (countable) Something specific which is the result of a process of concretizing a general principle or idea.
    • 1979, Trudy Scott, “Stuart Sherman's Singular Spectacles,”, in The Drama Review: TDR, volume 23, number 1, page 75:
      This movement gave Sherman his first image—a roller skate—a concretization of pure motion.
    • 1993, Lubomír Doležel, "Semiotic Poetics of the Prague School," in Irene Rima Makaryk (ed.) Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory: Approaches, Scholars, Terms, →ISBN, p. 182 (Google preview):
      Vodicka's reception history is an empirical study of the post-genesis fortunes of literary works as attested in recorded concretizations (diaries, memoirs, letters, critical reviews, and essays).
  3. (uncountable, medicine, psychology) An inability to generalize or perform abstraction accompanied by excessive concentration on specific details, as in a mental disorder or in cognition by children.
    • 1969, E. Drage, B. Lange, “Ethical Considerations in the Use of Patients for Demonstration,”, in The American Journal of Nursing, volume 69, number 10, page 2165:
      Another [patient] commented on the fact that the consultant had referred to two of them as "boys" in the demonstration. The concretization of a schizophrenic is exemplified here. One man thought this word meant that the consultant, in order "to keep things on the level of boy-girl, wanted everyone else to consider her as a girl, so the boys and girls could communicate."

Usage notes edit

  • Concretization and concretion are rough synonyms but are usually not used interchangeably. Concretization is more commonly used to refer to a particular embodiment of a general concept or to the process which creates it. Concretion is more commonly used to refer to a physical, especially geological, object or to the physical process which creates it.

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