respectabilize
respectabilize verb: to make respectable; to give an appearance of respectability.
Verb
respectabilize (third-person singular simple present respectabilizes, present participle respectabilizing, simple past and past participle respectabilized)
- To make respectable; to give an appearance of respectability.
- There's not a notion in this book that has a more frightful, or ridiculous, mien than had the notion of human footprints in rocks, when that now respectabilized ruffian, or clown, was first heard from.1919, Charles Fort, chapter 11, in The Book of the Damned
- Uhde’s morals were not all that they should be and as his fiancée seemed a very well to do and very conventional young woman we were all surprised. But it turned out that it was an arranged marriage. Uhde wished to respectabilise himself and she wanted to come into possession of her inheritance...1933, Gertrude Stein, chapter 5, in The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
Forms of respectabilize
| third-person singular present | respectabilizes |
|---|---|
| present participle | respectabilizing |
| past participle | respectabilized |
| past | respectabilized |
| alternative form | respectabilise |
Origin of respectabilize
From respectable + -ize.
Questions about respectabilize
- What does respectabilize mean?
- Respectabilize means to make respectable; to give an appearance of respectability.
- What part of speech is respectabilize?
- Respectabilize is a verb.
- What is the past tense of respectabilize?
- The past tense of respectabilize is respectabilized.
Words near respectabilize in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: respectabilize (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: “respectabilize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/respectabilize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.