Word.ws English Dictionary

radicalise

radicalise is the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of radicalize.

Meaning of radicalize

Verb

radicalize (third-person singular simple present radicalizes, present participle radicalizing, simple past and past participle radicalized)

  1. (transitive) To make radical.
    • The goal of the Cultural Revolution was to radicalize the whole society, to create mass participation at all levels of decision-making, and to restore the revolutionary élan of the 1940s.1971, Deborah S. Davis, “The Cultural Revolution in Wuhan”, in The Cultural Revolution in the Provinces, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 159
  2. (intransitive) To become radical; to adopt a radical political stance.
    • He’s a delight and provides a little break in one’s timeline between heart-stopping political developments, at least until he himself radicalizes, which is bound to happen soon, because he is a French bulldog.2017 March 7, Caitlin Lovinger, “A Deadly Sin”, in The New York Times

Forms of radicalise

third-person singular presentradicalises
present participleradicalising
past participleradicalised
pastradicalised

Origin of radicalise

From radical + -ise.

Words formed from radicalise

Questions about radicalise

What is radicalise the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of?
Radicalise is the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of radicalize.

Words near radicalise in the dictionary

  1. Radical Republicans
  2. radical vinegar
  3. radicalisable
  4. radicalisation
  5. radicalisations
  6. radicalise
  7. radicalised
  8. radicalises
  9. radicalish
  10. radicalising
  11. radicalism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: radicalise (page history and authors); radicalize (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.

Last updated:

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