naturalize
verb /ˈnætʃrəlaɪz/
/ˈnætʃrəlaɪz/
(British English also naturalise)
[usually passive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they naturalize | /ˈnætʃrəlaɪz/ /ˈnætʃrəlaɪz/ |
| he / she / it naturalizes | /ˈnætʃrəlaɪzɪz/ /ˈnætʃrəlaɪzɪz/ |
| past simple naturalized | /ˈnætʃrəlaɪzd/ /ˈnætʃrəlaɪzd/ |
| past participle naturalized | /ˈnætʃrəlaɪzd/ /ˈnætʃrəlaɪzd/ |
| -ing form naturalizing | /ˈnætʃrəlaɪzɪŋ/ /ˈnætʃrəlaɪzɪŋ/ |
- [transitive] naturalize somebody to make somebody who was not born in a particular country a citizen of that country
- a naturalized American who was born in Poland
- He was naturalized as a British citizen in 1940.
- [transitive] naturalize something to introduce a plant or an animal to a country where it is not native
- The grey squirrel is now naturalized in Britain.
- [intransitive] (of a plant or an animal) to start growing or living naturally in a country where it is not native
Word Originmid 16th cent.: from French naturaliser, from Old French natural, from Latin naturalis, from natura ‘birth, nature, quality’, from nat- ‘born’, from the verb nasci.