CS Knowledge Base

Back-formation from reification, calque from German. Formed as Latin rēs (“thing”) +‎ -ify (English suffix).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹiː.ə.faɪ/, /ˈɹeɪ.ə.faɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

reify (third-person singular simple present reifies, present participle reifying, simple past and past participle reified)

1. (transitive) To regard something abstract as if it were a concrete material thing.
   • 2024, Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, page 349:

     What I've always appreciated about this concept of coincidence ... is how it reifies our search for causality, our need to establish logical connections among disparate events.

• concretize, objectify, picture, thingify

• realize (make real)

• conceptualize, hypostatize, personify

• fiery, firey