asocialize

English

Alternative forms

• asocialise

Etymology

From asocial +‎ -ize.

Verb

asocialize (third-person singular simple present asocializes, present participle asocializing, simple past and past participle asocialized)

1. (transitive) To cause to become asocial; to disconnect (someone or something) from society or societal norms.
   • 1940, Arthur Percy Noyes, chapter 8, in Modern Clinical Psychiatry‎^[1], 2nd edition, Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, page 160:

     […] the physician, in order that he may intelligently attempt to redirect the personality functions, desires to know what the life problems are which have led to this disorganizing and asocialized method of meeting them.

   • 1985, Douglas J. Den Uyl, “Smoking, Human Rights, and Civil Liberties”, in Robert D. Tollison, editor, Smoking and Society‎^[2], Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, page 209:

     The hysterical claims and missionary-like zeal exhibited by groups who wish to impose their vision of the good upon others is symptomatic of certain asocializing forces in our society.

   • 2006, Freda Adler et al., chapter 13, in Criminal Justice: An Introduction‎^[3], 4th edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, page 356:

     To optimists, the closing [of Alcatraz] was a sign of a new direction in American corrections. The aim would now be to socialize convicts rather than “asocialize” them by totally withdrawing them from society.