socialize
verb
Simple meaning
To interact with others.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sohshuhlyzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsoʊʃəlaɪz
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.
verb
intransitive
To interact with others, especially personally, informally and off the clock rather than formally and officially.
transitive
To instruct (somebody), usually subconsciously and mostly by example, in the etiquette of a society.
transitive
To take something into collective or governmental ownership.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To interact with others, especially personally, informally and off the clock rather than formally and officially.
Used this way, socialize is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Official and authoritative
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use socialize
- “He never socializes with his colleagues.”verb
- “The children must be properly socialized.”verb
- “Children have to be socialized in school.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The act of meeting for social purposes.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The action of establishing on a socialist basis.
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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.