Tarbellize

T1A1R1B3E1L1L1I1Z10E1

verb

To criticize through investigatory journalism.

Scrabble 21
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Meanings

verbTarbellize (third-person singular simple present Tarbellizes, present participle Tarbellizing, simple past and past participle Tarbellized)

present singular third person Tarbellizes · participle present Tarbellizing · participle past Tarbellized · past Tarbellized

  1. USarchaicobsoletetransitiveTo criticize through investigatory journalism.

    The agencies of the Central States have been "Tarbellized" this month. Now watch the returns.

    1903, The Equitable News: An Agents' Journal
    3 more examples

    At this stage we must take a risk; / We may full soon be Tarbellized, / Or through exposures blunt and brisk / Be quite completely Lawsonized.

    1906, Life

    Shirley worked deviously, of course. Having, under a name not her own, achieved fame by Tarbellizing the plutocrat in a book, and having (still in disguise) been given by the simple minded great man command of his most private papers […]

    1906, Army & Navy Life and the United Service

    [T]he time was when the public feeling against the Standard Oil has been Tarbellized and Lawsonized into almost a fever-heat.

    1917, The Magazine of Wall Street

Origin

From Tarbell + -ize, after Ida Tarbell, author of The History of the Standard Oil Company, a book that heavily criticized John D. Rockefeller and his monopolistic practices.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Tarbellize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tarbellize

MLA

“Tarbellize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tarbellize. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Tarbellize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tarbellize.

Source: Tarbellize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.