modernize

Etymology

It is formed from English modern + -ize,^[2][3][4] although Etymonline also allows, and the Shorter Oxford and Klein give, a borrowing from French moderniser.^[3][5][6] The OED notes that the French verb is recorded only from 1754 and is probably itself from English.^[2] The adjective is from Middle French moderne and Late Latin modernus, from Latin modo (“just now”), from modus (“manner, measure”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make modern, here to rewrite an old text in modern language: 1716, in the title of G. Duckett's Homerides: or, Homer's first book moderniz'd.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also gives 1716,^[7] Etymonline the 1680s,^[3] and Dictionary.com 1740–50.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The verb first applied to old texts, spelling and language brought up to date, and to old buildings refashioned in a modern style; later it was used of houses and businesses given modern equipment.^[2] The intransitive sense, to adopt modern ways, appears in 1753 in S. Richardson's Sir Charles Grandison.^[2] From 1860 the Historical Thesaurus records the sense of bringing modern conditions to a place or society.^[8] Etymonline dates the noun modernizer to 1739.^[3]

Timeline

• 1716 – to make modern, bring up to date, first of rewriting an old text.^[2][7] Etymonline gives the 1680s.^[3]
• 1753 – intransitive, to adopt modern ways or methods.^[2]
• 1860 – to bring modern conditions to a place or society.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make modern in style, character or appearance; to update: The town modernized its railway station.^{[9][10][7][2]}
2. To rewrite an old text in modern spelling or language.^[2][11]
3. To fit a building or business with modern equipment.^[2][5]
4. To adopt modern ways, ideas or methods.^{[9][10][2][11]}

Word family

• modernization
• modernizer
• overmodernize

Related words

• modern
• modernism
• mode

Usage notes

The spelling modernise is also used, especially in British English.^[9][7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers