Flexibilization

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of making rules, schedules, or working arrangements less rigid so they can adapt to changing needs
2. Relaxing strict regulations or structures to allow greater adaptability in how labor, policies, or systems operate
3. Introducing more room for variation into fixed conditions such as employment terms, budgets, or institutional procedures

Etymology: Flexibilization is built from "flexible," which comes from Latin "flexibilis," meaning "capable of being bent," from "flectere," "to bend." The English adjective "flexible" entered the language around the 1500s, and it kept that physical sense of bending for a long time before it came to describe adaptable plans, rules and workers. The suffix "-ization" does the real work here. It comes from Greek "-izein" through Latin "-izare" and French "-isation," and it turns an adjective or noun into a verb of making or becoming, often with a noun ending in "-ation." Attaching it to "flexible" produces a word meaning the process of making something more adaptable, which in modern usage usually refers to loosening rules, contracts or labour arrangements so they can respond to change.