Loyalize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cause someone to develop a sense of loyalty or commitment to a person, group, or cause
2. To instill devotion or allegiance in someone through persuasion or repeated positive experience
3. To foster a lasting sense of fidelity and dedication in a person toward an organization or ideal

Etymology: "Loyalize" is formed from "loyal" plus the suffix "-ize," which turns an adjective into a verb meaning to make or cause something to be a certain way. So the word means to make someone loyal, or to bring something into conformity with loyalty. The suffix does most of the work here. "Loyal" came into English from Old French "loial," itself from Latin "legalis," meaning "lawful" or "of the law." That shared Latin root explains the word's unusual relationship with "legalize," which descends from the same Latin base through a different route. The two are doublets: separate English words that grew from one ancestor, with "loyalize" retaining a sense of faithfulness while "legalize" took on the sense of making something lawful.