Radicalized

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The transformation of an individual's beliefs to adopt extreme ideologies that fundamentally oppose societal norms occurs through this process
2. This phenomenon involves altering a person's convictions to embrace drastic viewpoints that reject conventional values
3. To cause someone to change their views to support extreme or radical ideologies that challenge mainstream society

Etymology: The verb "radicalize" is formed from "radical" plus the suffix "-ize", and the suffix carries a long history of its own. It descends from a Greek verb ending "-izein", which turned nouns and adjectives into verbs meaning "to make into" or "to treat in a certain way". The Greek form passed into Late Latin as "-izare", then into Middle French as "-iser", and reached Middle English as "-isen", later settling into the modern "-ize" spelling in English. "Radical" itself comes from Late Latin "radicalis", meaning "having roots", from Latin "radix", "root". Its political sense arrived much later: it was used of reformers who wanted to go to the root of a problem, and "radicalize" follows that line, so that to radicalize someone is, in effect, to push them toward the root of an ideology, and beyond the ordinary limits of their society.

Synonyms: extremized, militarized, revolutionized

Antonyms: moderated, normalized