reification
noun
Simple meaning
The consideration of an abstract thing as if it were concrete, or of an inanimate object as if it were living.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
reeuhfuhkayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɹiəfəˈkeɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The consideration of an abstract thing as if it were concrete, or of an inanimate object as if it were living.
The consideration of a human being as an impersonal object.
Representing a human being as a physical thing deprived of personal qualities or individuality
“According to Marx, treating labor as a commodity exemplified the reification of the individual.”
Regarding something abstract as a material thing
programming
A process that makes a computable/addressable object out of a non-computable/addressable one; or a concrete class out of a generic one.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The consideration of an abstract thing as if it were concrete, or of an inanimate object as if it were living.
Used this way, reification is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use reification
- “According to Marx, treating labor as a commodity exemplified the reification of the individual.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.