Concretization
Alternative forms
Full definition of concretization
Noun
concretization
(countable and uncountable; plural concretizations)- (uncountable) The process of concretizing a general principle or idea by delineating, particularizing, or exemplifying it.
- 1934, J. Tinbergen, "Annual Survey of Significant Developments in General Economic Theory," Econometrica, vol. 2, no. 1, p. 25:There are certain fields in general economics that are at present not so much in need of a broadening of the theoretical basis as in need of a minute working-out and concretization.
- 1961, H. Kelsen, General Theory of Law and State, p. 237:Law proceeds from the general (abstract) to the individual (particular); it is a process of increasing individualization and concretization.
- (countable) Something specific which is the result of a process of concretizing a general principle or idea.
- 1979, Trudy Scott, "Stuart Sherman's Singular Spectacles," The Drama Review: TDR, vol. 23, no. 1, p. 75:This movement gave Sherman his first image—a roller skate—a concretization of pure motion.
- 1993, LubomÃr Doležel, "Semiotic Poetics of the Prague School," in Irene Rima Makaryk (ed.) Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory: Approaches, Scholars, Terms, ISBN 9780802068606, p. 182 (Google preview):Vodicka's reception history is an empirical study of the post-genesis fortunes of literary works as attested in recorded concretizations (diaries, memoirs, letters, critical reviews, and essays).
- (uncountable, medicine, psychology) An inability to generalize or perform abstraction accompanied by excessive concentration on specific details, as in a mental disorder or in cognition by children.
- 1969, E. Drage and B. Lange, "Ethical Considerations in the Use of Patients for Demonstration," The American Journal of Nursing, vol. 69, no. 10, p. 2165:Another patient commented on the fact that the consultant had referred to two of them as "boys" in the demonstration. The concretization of a schizophrenic is exemplified here. One man thought this word meant that the consultant, in order "to keep things on the level of boy-girl, wanted everyone else to consider her as a girl, so the boys and girls could communicate."
Usage notes
Concretization and concretion are rough synonyms but are usually not used interchangeably. Concretization is more commonly used to refer to a particular embodiment of a general concept or to the process which creates it. Concretion is more commonly used to refer to a physical, especially geological, object or to the physical process which creates it.