Bulletize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To arrange material into a list where each item is marked with a bullet symbol ; to condense information into short, concise points for quick reading
2. To set out content as a series of marked points ; to reduce ideas into brief, separate statements that are easy to scan
3. Converting prose into a list of bullet points ; breaking down a message into terse, distinct items that can be read at a glance

Etymology: "Bulletize" is a plain formation: the noun "bullet" with the verb-forming suffix "-ize," which turns a noun into a verb meaning to make or treat something in a particular way. Here, the sense is to arrange information as a series of short points, the way a slide or memo does. The base word has a long story of its own. "Bullet" came into English from French "boulette," a little ball, a diminutive of "boule," ball, and for centuries it referred to any small round missile, including cannonballs, before narrowing to the modern firearm projectile. The shape that gave the word its name also gave us the typographic bullet, the dot that marks each point in a list. The verb grew from that typographic sense. Writers who pick out key points with dots are said to be bulleting them, and the verb describes the act of reshaping a passage into that form. The suffix "-ize" is the same one found in words like "organize" and "modernize," so the verb follows a familiar pattern in English.