reification

See also: réification

English

Etymology

First attested around 1846; a macaronic calque of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] German Verdinglichung, using -ification (“making”) for ver- + -lich + -ung, and (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin res (“thing”) for Ding (“thing”)

Pronunciation

• enPR: rāəfəkāshən, IPA^(key): /ˌɹeɪəfəˈkeɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

reification (countable and uncountable, plural reifications)

1. The consideration of an abstract thing as if it were concrete, or of an inanimate object as if it were living.
2. The consideration of a human being as an impersonal object.
3. (programming) Process that makes a computable/addressable object out of a non-computable/addressable one.
4. (linguistics) The transformation of a natural-language statement into a form in which its actions and events are quantifiable variables.

Synonyms

• hypostatization
• objectification
• pathetic fallacy
• thingification

Derived terms

• dereification

Derived terms

• reify

Translations

Consideration of an abstract thing as if it were concrete, or of an inanimate object as if it were living

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 具象化 (jùxiànghuà)

• Finnish: konkretisointi
• French: réification (fr)
• German: Verdinglichung f, Vergegenständlichung f, Reifikation (de) f
• Hebrew: חיפצון
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 실재화 (siljaehwa)
• Macedonian: опредметување n (opredmetuvanje)
• Norwegian: tingliggjøring
• Portuguese: reificação (pt) f
• Russian: реификация (ru) (reifikacija)
• Spanish: cosificación f, reificación f
• Turkish: cisimleştirme, maddeleştirme, soyutlaştırma

Consideration of a human being as an impersonal object

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

programming: Process that makes out of a non-computable/addressable object a computable/addressable one

• German: Reifizierung f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}