Standard Lemma guide

modernization

noun · 3 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: /ˌmɒdənɪˈzeɪʃn̩/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌmɒdənaɪˈzeɪʃn̩/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌmɑdɚnɪˈzeɪʃn̩/
  • General-American: /ˌmɑdɚnaɪˈzeɪʃn̩/
  • General-American: [ˌmɑɾɚ-]
  • rhymes with -eɪʃən
  • CMU ARPABET: M AA2 D ER0 N AH0 Z EY1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: M AA2 D ER0 N AY0 Z EY1 SH AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The act, process, or result of modernizing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

making modern in appearance or behavior

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the modernization of Nigeria will be a long process

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: modernisation

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: improvement

3

noun

Meaning 3

a modernized version (as of a play)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: adaptation, version

History

Etymology

From modernize + -ation or French modernisation.

Across languages

Translations

51 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: modernizim — process of modernizing
  • Arabic: تَحْدِيث (taḥdīṯ) — process of modernizing
  • Armenian: արդիականացում (ardiakanacʻum) — process of modernizing
  • Asturian: modernización — process of modernizing
  • Belarusian: мадэрніза́цыя (madernizácyja) — process of modernizing
  • Bengali: আধুনিকীকরণ (adhunikikron) — process of modernizing
  • Bulgarian: модернизация (modernizácija) — process of modernizing
  • Catalan: modernització — process of modernizing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 現代化 /现代化 (xiàndàihuà) — process of modernizing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 近代化 (jìndàihuà) — process of modernizing
  • Czech: modernizace — process of modernizing
  • Danish: modernisering — process of modernizing
  • Dutch: modernisering — process of modernizing
  • Dutch: modernisatie — process of modernizing
  • Estonian: moderniseerimine — process of modernizing
  • Estonian: ajakohastamine — process of modernizing
  • Finnish: modernisointi — process of modernizing
  • French: modernisation — process of modernizing
  • Galician: modernización — process of modernizing
  • German: Modernisierung — process of modernizing
  • Hindi: आधुनिकीकरण (ādhunikīkraṇ) — process of modernizing
  • Hungarian: modernizáció — process of modernizing
  • Hungarian: korszerűsítés — process of modernizing
  • Hungarian: modernizálás — process of modernizing
  • Icelandic: nútímavæðing — process of modernizing
  • Italian: modernizzazione — process of modernizing
  • Japanese: 近代化 (kindaika) — process of modernizing
  • Japanese: 現代化 (gendaika) — process of modernizing
  • Kazakh: жаңғырту (jañğyrtu) — process of modernizing
  • Korean: 현대화 (hyeondaehwa) — process of modernizing
  • Korean: 근대화 (geundaehwa) — process of modernizing
  • Latvian: modernizācija — process of modernizing
  • Macedonian: осовременување (osovremenuvanje) — process of modernizing
  • Macedonian: модернизација (modernizacija) — process of modernizing
  • Malayalam: ആധുനികവൽക്കരണം (ādhunikavalkkaraṇaṁ) — process of modernizing
  • Malayalam: ആധുനികീകരണം (ādhunikīkaraṇaṁ) — process of modernizing
  • Polish: modernizacja — process of modernizing
  • Portuguese: modernização — process of modernizing
  • Romanian: modernizare — process of modernizing
  • Romanian: modernizație — process of modernizing
  • Russian: модерниза́ция (modernizácija) — process of modernizing
  • Slovak: modernizácia — process of modernizing
  • Spanish: modernización — process of modernizing
  • Swedish: modernisering — process of modernizing
  • Telugu: ఆధునికీకరణ (ādhunikīkaraṇa) — process of modernizing
  • Ukrainian: модерніза́ція (modernizácija) — process of modernizing
  • Ukrainian: осуча́снення (osučásnennja) — process of modernizing
  • Ukrainian: модернізува́ння (modernizuvánnja) — process of modernizing
  • Vietnamese: sự hiện đại hoá — process of modernizing
  • Welsh: moderneiddiad — process of modernizing
  • Zhuang: yendaiva — process of modernizing
Real reading context

modernization in complete knowledge articles