reification
/ˌɹeɪəfəˈkeɪʃən/ noun
Forms reifications
- noun The consideration of an abstract thing as if it were concrete, or of an inanimate object as if it were living.
- noun The consideration of a human being as an impersonal object.
- noun (programming) A process that makes a computable/addressable object out of a non-computable/addressable one; or a concrete class out of a generic one.
- noun (linguistics) The transformation of a natural-language statement into a form in which its actions and events are quantifiable variables.
Synonyms
hypostatization materialization objectification pathetic fallacy thingification hypostatisation depersonalization depersonalisation
Etymology
First attested around 1846; a macaronic calque of German Verdinglichung, using -ification (“making”) for ver- + -lich + -ung, and Latin rēs (“thing”) for Ding (“thing”)
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “reification”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details