Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To make American in form, style, or character.
- intransitive verb To absorb or assimilate into American culture.
- intransitive verb To bring under American influence or control.
- intransitive verb To become American, as in spirit.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To render American in character; assimilate to the customs and institutions of the United States.
- To naturalize in the United States.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To render American; to assimilate to the Americans in customs, ideas, etc.; to stamp with American characteristics.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb American To make
American , as to custom, culture, or style of the United States of America. - verb American To localize a medium for sale or use in the United States.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make American in character
- verb become American in character
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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To break the deadlock, they sent an army of 9,000 men, British and German (known as Hessians to the Americans) to besiege Charleston, S.C. A few victories in the South, they hoped, would inflame Southerners loyal to King George III, causing them to rise up and allow London to "Americanize" the war.
Malarial mosquitoes helped defeat British in battle that ended Revolutionary War J.R. McNeill 2010
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Because not only do we have to dumb down ( "Americanize") Let the Right One In, now The Orphanage too?
‘Orphanage’ Remake Adopted By ‘Arlington Road’ Director Mark Pellington » MTV Movies Blog 2010
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To break the deadlock, they sent an army of 9,000 men, British and German (known as Hessians to the Americans) to besiege Charleston, S.C. A few victories in the South, they hoped, would inflame Southerners loyal to King George III, causing them to rise up and allow London to "Americanize" the war.
Malarial mosquitoes helped defeat British in battle that ended Revolutionary War J.R. McNeill 2010
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The more than three hundred treaties with Native Americans broken by the U.S. government, the "Indian schools" and the reservation system to "Americanize" them and keep them out of sight, the Jim Crow laws, lynchings, legal discrimination, still-existing racist judicial system with its disproportionate numbers of African-American and Hispanic males incarcerated or executed, all resulted.
Marginalizing MLK: Ignoring Dr. King's Still-Relevant Speech 2010
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As individuals, families, and whole communities emigrate, they bring with them their eating habits and traditions, yet over time must and do change ( "Americanize", "Frenchify") their cuisine, adapting to available ingredients, modernizing to fit a new lifestyle.
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What I'm wondering is how he is going to "Americanize" the sexual and perverse storylines, which have just as much to do with the film as the angst.
Matt Reeves Says 'Let Me In' Will Be Darker Than 'Twilight' « FirstShowing.net 2010
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The more than three hundred treaties with Native Americans broken by the U.S. government, the "Indian schools" and the reservation system to "Americanize" them and keep them out of sight, the Jim Crow laws, lynchings, legal discrimination, still-existing racist judicial system with its disproportionate numbers of African-American and Hispanic males incarcerated or executed, all resulted.
Marginalizing MLK: Ignoring Dr. King's Still-Relevant Speech 2010
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But none of this will translate in a remake, much less when your goal is to "Americanize" it.
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That's why the Clinton administration's argument that lifting the arms embargo will "Americanize" the war doesn't make sense.
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The comparison reflects a basic mistake we Americans make over and over again: we "Americanize" the rest of the world's conflicts, seeing them through the lens of our own national experience.
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