-ize
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-ize
or -isesuff.
1.
a. To cause to be or to become: dramatize.
b. To cause to conform to or resemble: Hellenize.
c. To treat as: idolize.
2.
a. To treat or affect with: anesthetize.
b. To subject to: tyrannize.
3. To treat according to or practice the method of: pasteurize.
4. To become; become like: materialize.
5. To perform, engage in, or produce: botanize.
[Middle English -isen, from Old French -iser, from Late Latin -izāre, from Greek -izein, v. suff.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
-ize
or-ise
suffix forming verbs
1. to cause to become, resemble, or agree with: legalize.
2. to become; change into: crystallize.
3. to affect in a specified way; subject to: hypnotize.
4. to act according to some practice, principle, policy, etc: economize.
[from Old French -iser, from Late Latin -izāre, from Greek -izein]
Usage: In Britain and the US -ize is the preferred ending for many verbs, but -ise is equally acceptable in British English. Certain words (chiefly those not formed by adding the suffix to an existing word) are, however, always spelt with -ise in both Britain and the US: advertise, revise
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
-ize
a verb-forming suffix occurring orig. in loanwords from Greek that have entered English through Latin or French (baptize; barbarize; catechize); within English, -ize is added to adjectives and nouns to form transitive verbs with the general senses “to render, make” (actualize; fossilize; sterilize; Americanize), “to convert into, give a specified character or form to” (computerize; dramatize; itemize; motorize), “to subject to (as a process, sometimes named after its originator)” (hospitalize; terrorize; galvanize; oxidize; winterize). Also formed with -ize are a more heterogeneous group of verbs, usu. intransitive, denoting a change of state (crystallize), kinds or instances of behavior (apologize; tyrannize), or activities (economize; philosophize; theorize). Also, esp. Brit., -ise1. Compare -ism, -ist, -ization.
[Middle English -isen (< Old French -iser) < Late Latin -izāre < Greek -izein]
usage: The suffix -ize, one of the most productive in the language, has been in common use since the late 16th century. Some of the words formed with -ize have been widely disapproved in recent years, particularly finalize (first attested in the early 1920s) and prioritize (around 1970). Such words are most often criticized when they become, as did these two, vogue terms, suddenly heard and seen everywhere, esp. in the context of advertising, commerce, education, and government - forces claimed by some to have a corrupting influence upon the language. Both finalize and prioritize are fully standard, occurring in all varieties of speech and writing, although rarely found in belletristic writing. ―The British spelling -ise is becoming less common in British English, esp. in technical or formal writing, chiefly because some influential British publishers prefer the American form.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Translations
-ize
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007