normalize

Etymology

It is formed from English normal + -ize.^[2][3][4][5] Normal is from Latin normālis (“right-angled; in later Latin, conforming to a rule”), from norma (“carpenter's square; rule, pattern”).^[2][3][6] The OED notes that normalization is recorded slightly later than the verb.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bring into a normal or standard state: 1842, in the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, of the divided circle of an instrument.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1847, Etymonline to 1848, and Dictionary.com to 1860–65.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb appeared when normal itself was taking on its modern sense "standard, usual" in the 19th century.^[6][3] It soon gained technical senses: in mathematics and physics, from 1900, to multiply a function or series by a factor that makes its norm equal to one; in metallurgy, from 1902, to heat steel and let it cool in still air; and in computing, from 1946, to put a floating-point number into standard form.^[2][4] The intransitive "to become normal" dates from 1924.^[2] In politics, from 1940, countries normalize relations when they establish or restore them,^[2][7][8] and in South Africa from 1976 the verb meant to remove racial bias from sport, a sense now historical.^[2][9] More recently it has also meant to make something formerly seen as abnormal or unacceptable seem normal.^[8][10]

Timeline

• 1842 – to bring into a normal or standard condition.^[2]
• 1900 – in mathematics and physics, to scale a function or series to a standard norm.^[2]
• 1902 – in metallurgy, to heat and air-cool steel.^[2][4]
• 1924 – intransitive, to return to normal.^[2]
• 1940 – to establish or restore relations between countries.^[2]
• 1946 – in computing, to put a floating-point number in standard form.^[2]
• 1976 – in South Africa, to desegregate sport.^[2][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make normal; to bring into line with a norm or standard: The drug helps normalize her blood pressure.^[4][8][10]
2. To make something once seen as unusual or unacceptable seem normal, or to remove a stigma from it.^[8][10]
3. To establish or restore normal diplomatic relations: The two countries normalized relations after the treaty.^[2][8][7]
4. To become normal again.^[2]
5. (metallurgy) To heat steel above a critical temperature and let it cool in still air, to relieve internal stresses.^[4][10][2]
6. (mathematics) To multiply a function, series or vector by a factor that makes its norm equal to one.^[2]
7. (computing) To put a floating-point number into standard form.^[2]
8. To make a text, dialect or language regular in spelling and inflection.^[4]
9. (South Africa, historical) To remove racial bias from sport; to desegregate.^[2][9]

Word family

• normalization
• normalizer
• normalizable
• renormalize
• unnormalized

Related words

• normal

Usage notes

The spelling normalise is chiefly British.^[4][10][5]

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 m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles, Dictionary Unit for South African English, https://dsae.co.za
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins