Definify.com

Definition 2024


paternalize

paternalize

English

Verb

paternalize (third-person singular simple present paternalizes, present participle paternalizing, simple past and past participle paternalized)

  1. (transitive) To make paternal; to place in a fatherly role.
    • 1912, Edith M Phelps, Selected Articles on Government Ownership of the Telegraph
      To paternalize the government or make it more bureaucratic is in their judgment to repress private enterprise and to imitate the monarchical systems...
  2. control organizations, things etc. disregarding people's freedom and responsibility under guise and pretense of knowing what would be good and proper for them