What does "medicalize" mean?

To make medical; to convert or reduce to a branch of medicine; especially, to pathologize.

What is a synonym for "medicalize"?

Common synonyms include: pathologize.

How do you pronounce "medicalize"?

Pronounced //ˈmɛdɪkəlaɪz//.

Medicalize

//ˈmɛdɪkəlaɪz// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1
To make medical; to convert or reduce to a branch of medicine; especially, to pathologize. transitive
"The sexual objectification and violation of women is made invisible because technological reproduction has turned medicalized pornography into education […]"

Synonyms

All synonyms

pathologize

Example

More examples

"The sexual objectification and violation of women is made invisible because technological reproduction has turned medicalized pornography into education […]"

Etymology

From medical + -ize.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.