Depoliticising

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Stripping away the political character, partisan associations or government influence that has been attached to a matter, institution or issue
2. Making an issue, organization or activity no longer subject to political debate, control or ideological interpretation
3. Taking the politics out of a subject so that it can be treated as neutral, practical or non-partisan rather than contested

Etymology: "Depoliticising" is the present participle and gerund of "depoliticise," so its history is really the history of that verb. The verb is formed from "de-," a prefix meaning "remove or reverse," and "politicise," which itself comes from "political," tracing back through Latin "politicus" to Greek "politikos," relating to the city-state (polis). The sense is therefore literal: to remove political character or political control from something. The added "-ise" makes the verb a further step from the base: "politicise" first took hold as a way of saying to give something a political character, and "depoliticise" was built on it by attaching the reversing prefix. Because English tends to form such pairs freely, the reverse verb followed naturally once the first one was in use.

Synonyms: neutralise

Antonyms: politicise