relativize

English

Alternative forms

• relativise (non-Oxford British English)

Etymology

From relative +‎ -ize.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

  (file)

Verb

relativize (third-person singular simple present relativizes, present participle relativizing, simple past and past participle relativized)

1. To make one thing relative to another.
   • 1996, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Sex, Gender, and Christian Ethics, page 256:

     However, many thinkers (Protestant and Catholic) have used historical-critical methods to relativize New Testament materials on sex and gender to their original settings, rather quickly substituting for "obsolete" moral prohibitions a modern, liberal set of values […]

2. (grammar) To make relative.

   to relativize indirect objects

Derived terms

• relativization
• relativizer

Translations

to make relative to

• Dutch: relativeren (nl)
• Finnish: suhteuttaa (fi), suhteellistaa
• French: relativiser (fr)
• Italian: relativizzare
• Russian: релятивизи́ровать (ru) (reljativizírovatʹ), релятивизова́ть (ru) (reljativizovátʹ)

Anagrams

• revitalize