Meanings
present singular third person nationalises · participle present nationalising · participle past nationalised · past nationalised
- UKnonstandardNon-Oxford British English standard spelling of nationalize.
It is a canard trotted out by lazy or tendentious journalists that nationalised British Railways lacked entrepreneurial flair.
2021 November 17, Anthony Lambert, “How do we grow the leisure market?”, in RAIL, number 944, page 373 more examples
It was done in order to nationalise — or rather to Babylonise — all the four throughout, by giving them Chaldean names, bearing the names of the gods Bel and Nego or Nebo.
1870, The Broadway, page 33Although the B.L.S. group of railways remains under private ownership, the question of nationalising more Swiss lines has recently been considered by a Government Commission.
1953 August, J. G. Click, “The Lötschberg Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 513The US joins the first world war and supplies allied forces with oil. President Woodrow Wilson appoints multiple oil executives to war-effort committees and nationalises the railways.
2017 November 12, Jie Jenny Zou, “How big oil is tightening its grip on Donald Trump's White House”, in The Guardian
Synonyms & antonyms
verbput under state control or ownership
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchnationaliser
- Englishnationalise
From French nationaliser, equivalent to national + -ise.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
nationalise. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nationalise
“nationalise.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nationalise. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nationalise,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nationalise.
Source: nationalise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.