Standard Lemma guide

democratize

verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /dɪˈmɒkɹətaɪz/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Atlantic-Canada, General-American: /dɪˈmɑkɹətaɪz/
  • Canada, dialectal: /dɪˈmɒkɹətaɪz/ of the US
  • Australian: /dɪˈmɔkɹətɑez/
  • CMU ARPABET: D IH0 M AA1 K R AH0 T AY2 Z Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To make democratic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Qualifier: strictly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To broaden access to (something), especially for the sake of egalitarianism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

introduce democratic reforms; of nations

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: democratise

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: change, alter, modify

4

verb

Meaning 4

become (more) democratic; of nations

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: democratise

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: change

History

Etymology

From French démocratiser, equivalent to democrat + -ize.

Across languages

Translations

55 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: demokratizoj — to make democratic
  • Arabic: مَقْرَطَ (maqraṭa) — to make democratic
  • Arabic: دَقْرَطَ (daqraṭa) — to make democratic
  • Arabic: دَمَقْرَطَ (damaqraṭa) — to make democratic
  • Armenian: ռամկավարացնել (ṙamkavaracʻnel) — to make democratic
  • Armenian: ժողովրդավարացնել (žoġovrdavaracʻnel) — to make democratic
  • Asturian: democratizar — to make democratic
  • Azerbaijani: demokratikləşdirmək — to make democratic
  • Belarusian: дэмакратызава́ць (demakratyzavácʹ) — to make democratic
  • Bulgarian: демократизи́рам (demokratizíram) — to make democratic
  • Catalan: democratitzar — to make democratic
  • Chinese Mandarin: 民主化 (mínzhǔhuà) — to make democratic
  • Czech: demokratizovat — to make democratic
  • Danish: demokratisere — to make democratic
  • Dutch: democratiseren — to make democratic
  • Estonian: demokratiseerima — to make democratic
  • Finnish: kansanvaltaistaa — to make democratic
  • Finnish: demokratisoida — to make democratic
  • French: démocratiser — to make democratic
  • Galician: democratizar — to make democratic
  • Georgian: გადემოკრატიულება (gademoḳraṭiuleba) — to make democratic
  • German: demokratisieren — to make democratic
  • Greek: εκδημοκρατίζω (ekdimokratízo) — to make democratic
  • Hungarian: demokratizál — to make democratic
  • Irish: daonlathaigh — to make democratic
  • Irish: déan daonlathach — to make democratic
  • Italian: democratizzare — to make democratic
  • Japanese: 民主化する (minshuka suru) — to make democratic
  • Korean: 민주화(民主化)하다 (minjuhwahada) — to make democratic
  • Latvian: demokratizēt — to make democratic
  • Lithuanian: demokratizuoti — to make democratic
  • Macedonian: демократизи́ра (demokratizíra) — to make democratic
  • Mongolian: ардчилах (ardčilax) — to make democratic
  • Norwegian Bokmål: demokratisere — to make democratic
  • Occitan: democratizar — to make democratic
  • Polish: demokratyzować — to make democratic
  • Polish: zdemokratyzować — to make democratic
  • Portuguese: democratizar — to make democratic
  • Romanian: a democratiza — to make democratic
  • Russian: демократизи́ровать (demokratizírovatʹ) — to make democratic
  • Serbo-Croatian: демократизи́рати — to make democratic
  • Serbo-Croatian: демократизовати — to make democratic
  • Serbo-Croatian: demokratizírati — to make democratic
  • Serbo-Croatian: demokratizovati — to make democratic
  • Slovak: demokratizovať — to make democratic
  • Slovene: demokratizirati — to make democratic
  • Spanish: democratizar — to make democratic
  • Swedish: demokratisera — to make democratic
  • Turkish: demokratikleştirmek — to make democratic
  • Turkmen: demokratiýalaşdyrmak — to make democratic
  • Ukrainian: демократизува́ти (demokratyzuváty) — to make democratic
  • Uyghur: دېموكراتىيەلەشتۈرمەك (dëmokratiyeleshtürmek) — to make democratic
  • Uzbek: demokratlashtirmoq — to make democratic
  • Vietnamese: dân chủ hoá — to make democratic
  • Yiddish: דעמאָקראַטיזירן (demokratizirn) — to make democratic