English

Verb

hypostatize ‎(third-person singular simple present hypostatizes, present participle hypostatizing, simple past and past participle hypostatized)

1. (transitive) To make into, or regard as, a separate and distinct substance; to construe a contextually-subjective and complex abstraction, idea, or concept as a universal object without regard to nuance or change in character.
   • Popular Science Monthly

     Looked upon both species and genera as hypostatized universals.

   Progressives are wrong to hypostatize their belief in mankind's eternal advance, and to disavow anything that does not fit this preordained vision. - Cardozo Law Review, February 2005

2. (transitive) To attribute actual or personal existence to.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir W. Hamilton to this entry?)