intellectualize

• intellectualise (UK)

From intellectual + -ize.

• IPA^(key): /ɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃuəlaɪz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

intellectualize (third-person singular simple present intellectualizes, present participle intellectualizing, simple past and past participle intellectualized) (transitive)

1. To treat in an intellectual manner; to discuss or express intellectually.
   • 1867, James Russell Lowell, Rousseau and the Sentimentalists:

     Sentiment is intellectualized emotion.

2. To endow with intellect; to bestow intellectual qualities upon; to cause to become intellectual.
3. (US) To find a seemingly rational explanation for.
   1. (psychology) To use (excessive) reasoning and rationalization to block out emotional stress and anxiety associated with painful or traumatic experiences.