Word.ws English Dictionary

agentization

agentization noun: the process of making something an agent (in any sense).

Noun

agentization (uncountable)

  1. The process of making something an agent (in any sense).
    • I conclude that the new se-impersonal construction can have no connection with a process of Agentization, even if the agent phrase is thought of as deleted. Since it also has no connection with a process of Object Fronting[…]1981, Norbert Hornstein, David Lightfoot, Explanation in Linguistics: the Logical Problem of Language Acquisition
    • there is significant support for the ‘agentization’ of the Northern Ireland prison service along English lines.1995, Lesley Noaks, Michael Levi, Mike Maguire, Contemporary Issues in Criminology

Examples of agentization in a sentence

  • While anthropomorphism by its definition is about giving human characteristics to nonhuman objects and forces, agentization is about imposing human-like activity on non-human objects.2008, Penny Duquenoy, Carlisle George, Kai Kimppa, Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues in Medical Informatics:
  • The ontological nature of the word, I would add, is illustrated not just in “primitive religions” but also in the agentization, if not personification, of the Word in Judaism and Christianity2009, Robert E. Innis, Susanne Langer in Focus: the Symbolic Mind):

Origin of agentization

From agent + -ization.

Questions about agentization

What does agentization mean?
Agentization means the process of making something an agent (in any sense).
How do you use agentization in a sentence?
While anthropomorphism by its definition is about giving human characteristics to nonhuman objects and forces, agentization is about imposing human-like activity on non-human objects.
What part of speech is agentization?
Agentization is a noun.

Words near agentization in the dictionary

  1. agentive nominalizations
  2. agentively
  3. agentiveness
  4. agentives
  5. agentivity
  6. agentization
  7. agentless
  8. agentlessness
  9. agentlike
  10. agentries
  11. agentry

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: agentization (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “agentization.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/agentization. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.