verb (used with object), re·i·fied, re·i·fy·ing.
- to convert into or regard as a concrete thing: to reify a concept.
verb -fies, -fying or -fied
- (tr) to consider or make (an abstract idea or concept) real or concrete
1846, “act of materializing,” from Latin re-, stem of res “thing” + -fication. In Marxist jargon, translating German Verdinglichung.
“make into a thing; make real or material; consider as a thing,” 1854, back-formation from reification, or else from re-, stem of Latin res “thing, object, matter, affair, event, circumstance, condition,” from PIE *re- “to bestow, endow” + -fy. Related: Reified; reifying.