infantilize

English

Alternative forms

• infantilise

Etymology

From infantile +‎ -ize (“make into”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfæn.tɪ.laɪz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

infantilize (third-person singular simple present infantilizes, present participle infantilizing, simple past and past participle infantilized)

1. (transitive) To reduce (a person) to the state or status of an infant.
   • 1984 August 18, Scott Tucker, “The Politics of Perversion”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 6, page 8:

     For too long, many of us have sought unity by binding ourselves together with the umbilical cords of dogma. They have done less and less to nurture us in recent years, and more and more to infantilize us.

2. (transitive) To treat (a person) like a child.

Translations

to reduce to the state of an infant

• Catalan: infantilitzar (ca)
• Dutch: infantiliseren (nl)
• Finnish: infantilisoida
• French: infantiliser (fr)
• German: infantilisieren
• Italian: infantilizzare
• Portuguese: infantilizar (pt)
• Spanish: infantilizar (es)

to treat like a child

• Catalan: infantilitzar (ca)
• Dutch: infantiliseren (nl)
• Esperanto: infanigi
• Finnish: kohdella kuin lasta
• French: infantiliser (fr)
• German: infantilisieren
• Italian: infantilizzare
• Polish: infantylizować impf, zinfantylizować pf
• Portuguese: infantilizar (pt)
• Spanish: infantilizar (es)
• Swedish: förbarnsliga

References

• “infantilize”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Galician

Verb

infantilize

1. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of infantilizar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Portuguese

Verb

infantilize

1. inflection of infantilizar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative