infantilize

verb

in·fan·til·ize in-ˈfan-tə-ˌlīz

ˈin-fən-tə-ˌlīz,

-fən-ˌtī-ˌlīz

infantilized; infantilizing

transitive verb

: to make or keep infantile

: to treat as if infantile

infantilization

in-ˌfan-tə-lə-ˈzā-shən

ˌin-fən-ˌtī-lə-ˈzā-shən

-fən-tə-

noun

Did you know?

Infantilize is just a baby, linguistically speaking. It wasn’t until several decades into the 20th century that social scientists started using the term to discuss the ways in which treating humans as helpless can prolong or encourage their dependency on others. The adjective infantile, which gave birth to infantilize, is far more mature: it dates to the 17th century. (Infant dates to the 14th century and comes ultimately from a Latin word meaning “incapable of speech; young.”) Infantile sometimes literally means “relating to infants”—that is, to children in the first year of life—but it is also applied more broadly. If you chide someone for their infantile behavior, for example, you rebuke the person for acting immaturely or childishly; to chide someone for infantilizing behavior, on the other hand, is to rebuke them for acting as if others are not as mature or independent as they are.

Examples of infantilize in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Of course, the United States could do none of these things and instead continue on its present track, wasting resources and earning the enmity of some states and peoples while infantilizing others. —

Barry R. Posen, Foreign Affairs, 1 Jan. 2013 Writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons’s Watchmen was both a critique of the genre and a warning about how superhero comics glamorize authoritarianism and fascism while doing double duty in infantilizing their audience. —

Alex Abad-Santos, Vox, 25 June 2024 Demerits, detention, loss of privileges, parental involvement are tools used for every other form of misbehavior in school, which teach consequences without infantilizing students, some of whom are age 18. —

Deborah Alexander, New York Daily News, 13 June 2024 But we were not infantilized or cared for as children. —

Maureen Dowd, New York Times, 6 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for infantilize

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'infantilize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.