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reify

verb

re·ify ˈrā-ə-ˌfī

ˈrē-

reified; reifying

: to consider or represent (something abstract) as a material or concrete thing : to give definite content and form to (a concept or idea)

… a culture can be reified into a body of traditions …—

M. J. Herskovits

Did you know?

Reify is a word that attempts to provide a bridge between what is abstract and what is real. Fittingly, it derives from a word that is an ancestor to real—the Latin noun res, meaning "thing."

Both reify and the related noun reification first appeared in English in the mid-19th century. Each word combines the Latin res with an English suffix (-fy and -fication, respectively) that is derived from the Latin -ficare, meaning "to make."

In general use, the words refer to the act of considering or presenting an abstract idea in real or material terms, or of judging something by a concrete example.

WIRED, 9 Nov. 2023

Out of a desire to help oppressed groups, that is, grew an ideology that ultimately reifies identity and rejects the possibility of cross-group solidarity.
—Samuel Clowes Huneke, The New Republic, 26 Oct. 2023

This dynamic was reified in the band’s own music, both in their voices — Gordon’s breathy and mysterious, Moore’s flat and sneering — and in their song material.
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