Regularisation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of making arrangements or actions consistent, orderly, or regular ; an adjustment or modification made to conform to rules, laws, or standards
2. The act of bringing irregularities into alignment with expected patterns or norms ; a correction or change implemented to ensure compliance or acceptability
3. An operation that creates a systematic or uniform state ; a procedural change to achieve legitimacy or validity under regulations

Etymology: "Regularisation" is a straightforward formation: it combines "regular", which comes from Latin "regularis", meaning "pertaining to a rule" (from "regula", a rule or straight stick used as a measure), with the suffix "-isation", the British spelling of "-ization". That suffix turns an adjective into a noun for the process of making something conform to a state or quality. The result describes the act of making something regular, that is, bringing it into line with a rule. The sense has broadened over time. Originally applied to making things literally even or uniform, the word now often covers administrative and legal contexts, where an irregular status, document or arrangement is adjusted so it meets the required standard. A "regularisation" of an immigrant's status, for example, makes an informal situation formally recognised. The shift from physical evenness to bureaucratic compliance is a fairly natural extension of the same idea of conforming to a rule.

Synonyms: normalization, standardization, systematization, ordering, regulation

Antonyms: chaos, disorder, anarchy, irregularity, deregulation