polarize
/ˈpoʊ.lə.ɹaɪz/verb
polarize is a verb meaning “To cause to have a polarization” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled P-O-L-A-R-I-Z-E and has 3 syllables, and it appears about once in every 6 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does polarize mean?
verb
- 1
USTo cause to have a polarization.
- 2
USTo cause a group to be divided into extremes.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce polarize?
- UK /ˈpəʊ.lə.ɹaɪz/
- US /ˈpoʊ.lə.ɹaɪz/
- Australia /ˈpəʉ.lə.ɹɑez/
Polarize has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-polarize.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of polarize
- polarizes present, singular, he/she/it
- polarizing participle, present
- polarized participle, past
- polarise
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is polarize?
Polarize appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 70,702nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Polarize in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to cause to have a polarization:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | polarisieren |
| Portuguese | polarizar |
| Spanish | polarizar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does polarize come from?
From French polariser, equivalent to polar + -ize.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).