personalize

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UK/ˈpɜː.sə.nə.laɪz/UK/ˈpɜːs.nə.laɪz/Canada, US/ˈpɝ.sə.nəˌlaɪz/Canada, US/ˈpɝs.nəˌlaɪz/

verb

To adapt something to the needs or tastes of an individual.

Less commonScrabble 22

Meanings

verbpersonalize (third-person singular simple present personalizes, present participle personalizing, simple past and past participle personalized)

present singular third person personalizes · participle present personalizing · participle past personalized · past personalized · alternative personalise

  1. BritishEnglishOxfordUStransitiveTo adapt something to the needs or tastes of an individual.

    In a draft of their paper, the unnamed researchers describe how they not only used AI to generate responses, but attempted to personalize its replies based on information gleaned from the original poster’s prior Reddit history.

    2025 April 28, Karissa Bell, “Researchers secretly experimented on Reddit users with AI-generated comments”, in Engadget
    2 more examples

    These "Eternal Ones of the Dream" are not to be confused with the personally modified symbolic figures that appear in nightmare and madness to the still tormented individual. Dream is the personalized myth, myth the depersonalized dream; both myth and dream are symbolic in the same general way of the dynamics of the psyche.

    1968, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2nd edition, London: Fontana Press, published 1993, page 19

    “Over the past month, the Department has held three separate meetings with the ACLU to receive feedback and engage the organization in the solutions,” the department said in a statement. “As a result of the meetings, the Department agrees that publishing FIO statistics going forward is necessary, and the Department is working toward personalizing interactions between officers and citizens.”

    2014 October 9, Marina Carver, “Study finds Boston police target African-Americans disproportionately”, in CNN
  2. BritishEnglishOxfordUStransitiveTo represent something abstract as a person; to embody.
  3. BritishEnglishOxfordUStransitiveTo imbue something with one's personality.

    Gloria Hull, best known as a Black Feminist literary critic, expands and personalizes her examination of creative thought in her first collection of poetry, Healing Heart.

    1989 December 17, Terri L. Jewell, “A Poet's Revolution Of Life”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 23, page 7

Synonyms & antonyms

verbmake personal or more personal

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishpersonal
  2. Englishpersonal
  3. Englishpersonalize

From personal + -ize.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan personalitzar
  • personalitzarto adapt to an individual
Chinese Mandarin 個性化 /个性化
  • 個性化 /个性化 (gèxìnghuà)to adapt to an individual
Finnish personoida
  • personoidato adapt to an individual
French personnaliser
  • personnaliserto adapt to an individual
German personalisieren
  • personalisierento adapt to an individual
Hungarian személyre szab
  • személyre szabto adapt to an individual
Italian personalizzare
  • personalizzareto adapt to an individual
Māori whakawhaiaro
  • whakawhaiaroto adapt to an individual
Polish personalizować, uosabiać
  • personalizowaćto adapt to an individual
  • uosabiaćto adapt to an individual
Portuguese personalizar
  • personalizarto adapt to an individual
Russian персонализи́ровать
  • персонализи́ровать (personalizírovatʹ)to adapt to an individual
Spanish personalizar
  • personalizarto adapt to an individual
Turkish kişiselleştirmek
  • kişiselleştirmekto adapt to an individual
Ukrainian персоналізува́ти
  • персоналізува́ти (personalizuváty)to adapt to an individual
Cite this entry
APA

personalize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/personalize

MLA

“personalize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/personalize. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “personalize,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/personalize.

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