Make Your Point > Archived Issues > REIFY

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explore the archives: Let's talk about things! To reify something is to treat it like a real thing. This word might be based on the Latin res, meaning "thing" or "matter," which also gave us the word real. Another term that's definitely based on res is a two-word Latin one we've checked out before. It means "to the point: focused on the thing being argued and not focused on the person who's arguing." Can you recall it? It's __ re_. make your point with... "REIFY" To reify abstract things is to make them SEEM more concrete or more real. And, to reify abstract things can also mean to treat them as if they ARE real. Pronunciation: REE ih fye Part of speech: Transitive verb. (Like "eat," "try," and "want," all transitive verbs do something to an object. You eat a banana, try a game, and want a new phone. Likewise, you reify something.) Other forms: reified, reifying, reifier, reification, reificatory ("ree IF uh kuh tore ee") How to use it: "Reify" is just like "realize," but more clear. Consider this: "She realized her dream." That's unclear, isn't it? Did she make her dream a reality, or did she figure out what her dream was? "Realize" can confuse people when you need it to mean "make real" but people think it means "figure out." The word that solves this problem is "reify." She reified her dream. So, although "reify" is a bit unusual, your readers and listeners who don't know it will probably understand it right away because it sounds and looks like "real," plus we all know that "-ify" means "to make." Talk about people who reify things, and talk about events and situations that reify things. What kind of things get reified? Ideas and concepts, problems and issues, principles and abstractions, values, similarities and differences, hypotheses and theories, words and names and phrases, systems and mechanisms, laws (like laws of nature, laws of physics, and laws of economics), and movements (like artistic movements, literary movements, and historical movements). examples: Quality instruction in history was wasted on me. I could memorize things for a short while but failed to ever reify them; I still have no clear sense of the timeline of human history. In their recently published investigation, NPR and ProPublica reified the alarmingly high rate of maternal deaths in the United States with the story of Lauren Bloomstein, a new mother who lost her life. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "reify" means when you can explain it without saying "real-ify" or "manifest." try it out: Fill in the blank: "_____ (is/are) fuzzy and complex and resist(s) reification." Example: "Both before and after you graduate, that mixture of emotions is fuzzy and complex and resists reification." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. Our game this month is called "Cousins or Strangers?" Consider two pairs of similar-looking words, and figure out which pair are truly related, like cousins, and which pair are unrelated, like strangers. "Related," of course, is a relative concept (ha ha). We're interested in closeness: "compute" and "computer" are sisters, or variations of the same word; "vision" and "video" are cousins, sharing the same Latin root; but "compute" and "video" are strangers. From our previous issue: Pair A: LOT and LOTTERY. These are the cousins. We got "lottery" from the Italian lotto, meaning a lot, a share, or a portion. Pair B: ELUSIVE and RECLUSIVE. These are the strangers. "Elusive" comes from the Latin ludere, meaning to play, while "reclusive" is from claudere, to shut--also Latin. Ready to check out two more pairs? Remember, one pair will be cousins; the other, strangers. Which is which? Pair A: PENSIVE and EXPENSIVE Pair B: PARSNIP and PARSLEY review today's word: 1. A close opposite of REIFY is A. CLOUD B. DEEPEN C. VISUALIZE 2. Stephen Jay Gould has argued against the attempted reification of _____, pointing out that an IQ score is not _____ itself. A. testing .. a test B. intelligence .. intelligence C. labels .. an accomplishment in and of Answers are below. a final word: To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. A 2. B