Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
nationalize \na"tion*al*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nationalized; p. pr. & vb. n. Nationalizing.] [Cf. F. nationaliser.]
To make national; to make a nation of; to endow with the character and habits of a nation, or the peculiar sentiments and attachment of citizens of a nation.
To change ownership of (a business, a property) from private ownership to state ownership or control; as, to nationalize the steel industry.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1800, "invest with a national character," from national + -ize. Meaning "bring under state control" is from 1869. Related: Nationalized; nationalizing.
Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context rare English) To make into, or to become, a nation. 2 To bring a private company under the control of a specific government. 3 To bring a concept such as a political issue or commercial campaign to the attention of the entire country. 4 (context archaic English) To make national; to make a nation of; to endow with the character and habits of a nation, or the peculiar sentiments and attachment of citizens of a nation.
WordNet
v. put under state control or ownership; "Mitterand nationalized the banks" [syn: nationalise] [ant: denationalize, denationalize]
make national in character or scope; "His heroic deeds were nationalized by the press" [syn: nationalise]
Usage examples of "nationalize".
I must be allowed to say that Judge Douglas recurs again, as he did upon one or two other occasions, to the enormity of Lincoln, an insignificant individual like Lincoln,--upon his ipse dixit charging a conspiracy upon a large number of members of Congress, the Supreme Court, and two Presidents, to nationalize slavery.
He was affectionately known as the Gaffer from his working days as a ganger with the old LSER, now part of the nationalized railways.
During the Revolution Moise Piedefer bought up the nationalized land, pulled down abbeys and churches with all the zeal of his ancestors, oddly enough, and married a Catholic, the only daughter of a member of the Convention who had perished on the scaffold.
Kovrov, a campaign without parallel since the Trojan war was waged between the vengeful relatives of an abducted nationalized girl and her persecutors.
Simply in the interest of efficiency the Nazis found themselves expropriating, nationalizing, destroying the very people they had set out to save.
Oligarchy, had Jorg Bomin assassinated within three months, nationalized the media, and went on to enjoy a reign undreamed of by Gile Cobart even during the halcyon days of his Administration.
It will have nationalized industry, scaled down incomes, set up a classless educational system.
To nationalize factories, demolish churches, and issue revolutionary manifestos would not have made the armies more efficient.
Simply in the interest of efficiency the Nazis found themselves expropriating, nationalizing, destroying the very people they had set out to save.
He understood that he could nationalize a midterm election with the contract, with incessant attacks on the Democrats, and with the argument that all the conflicts and bitter partisanship in Washington the Republicans had generated must be the Democrats’.
In addition, he found that Lenin nationalized every bank in Russia except the Rockefeller-controlled National City Bank, which remained open and continued to provide funds for the Bolsheviks.
The billionaire scions of industry were virtually unanimous in their outrage, while the unemployed folk flocked eagerly to apply for jobs in the nationalized companies.
Our biggest present problem is industry: we nationalized companies in key industries, but when we used them as our Employers of Last Resort, they became not more efficient but less efficient.
Thus the fungus industry was one of the vital ones, which was why the Tyrancy had nationalized one of the inefficient fungus companies.
Had I known the nature and consequence of their drive, I would have nationalized them all at the outset and shipped their executives to space.