Deregularizes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cause something to lose its usual form, order, or regularity
2. To disrupt or remove the regular pattern or standard arrangement of something
3. To make something become irregular or no longer conform to a fixed, predictable structure

Etymology: "Deregularizes" is the third-person singular form of "deregularize," so the etymology belongs to the verb itself. The verb is built from the prefix "de-," used to reverse or remove something, attached to "regularize," which means to make regular or to bring into conformity with a rule or pattern. Together they produce a sense of undoing regularity: taking away the conformity that "regularize" would impose. The prefix does the reversing work here, in the same way it appears in older verbs such as "decode" or "deforest." The base "regularize" itself comes from "regular," which traces back through Latin "regularis," relating to a rule or standard, from "regula," a rule. Because "deregularize" is a modern formation built on that base, it reads as a plain, transparent word: the meaning follows directly from its two parts without any shift from its original sense.

Synonyms: disorganizes, destandardizes, unformalizes, disarranges, deforms

Antonyms: regularizes, standardizes, organizes, formalizes, normalizes