Meanings
verbessentialize (third-person singular simple present essentializes, present participle essentializing, simple past and past participle essentialized)
present singular third person essentializes · participle present essentializing · participle past essentialized · past essentialized
- transitiveTo reduce (something) to its essence.
- transitiveTo misrepresent (something) by oversimplifying a summary of its essence.
“This is an essentializing of Hinduism,” Ms. Narayanan said, “and the diversity of Hinduism in India is lost here.”
2007 July 21, Neela Banerjee, “Camp Joins Summer Fun With Teaching Hindu Faith”, in New York Times - transitiveTo misrepresent (a characteristic of something) by falsely portraying it as essential to the whole (that is, implying that it defines the whole's essence).
to essentialize race by stereotyping "what Whites do" or "how Blacks think"
Origin
Translations
French essentialiser
- essentialiserto reduce to its essence
German essentialisieren
- essentialisierento reduce to its essence
Cite this entry
APA
essentialize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/essentialize
MLA
“essentialize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/essentialize. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “essentialize,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/essentialize.
Source: essentialize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.