What does climatize mean?
Climatize is a verb meaning to accustom a person, animal, or plant to a new climate or set of environmental conditions, much like the more familiar words acclimatize and acclimate. A hiker might climatize to high altitude over several days, or a gardener might gradually climatize greenhouse-raised seedlings before planting them outside. The word also carries a secondary, more technical sense: to deliberately regulate the climate or atmosphere of an enclosed space, as when engineers climatize a greenhouse to reproduce tropical conditions. Formed from climate with the verb-forming suffix -ize, it entered English in the nineteenth century alongside a family of related terms. Though legitimate and long-established, climatize remains relatively rare, appearing most often in horticultural, scientific, and travel contexts rather than casual conversation. Writers who choose it typically value its direct connection to climate itself, but readers should be aware that acclimatize is the standard choice for describing adaptation to new surroundings.
verbTo accustom or adapt oneself (or something) to a new climate or environmental conditions; also, less commonly, to artificially regulate the climate or atmosphere of an enclosed space such as a greenhouse.
- To become or make someone/something accustomed to a particular climate or set of environmental conditions.
- To regulate or modify the climate or atmospheric conditions of an enclosed space, such as a greenhouse or building.
"It took the expedition several weeks to climatize to the thin air and bitter cold of the high plateau."
"The seedlings were moved outdoors gradually so they could climatize before transplanting."
"Engineers climatized the research greenhouse to mimic tropical humidity year-round."
Before 'climate control' was a dashboard button, to climatize a greenhouse meant playing weather-god with glass, steam, and shade.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of climatize
Climatize was formed in English in the early nineteenth century from the noun climate plus the suffix -ize, which marks verbs of causing or becoming. Climate itself derives from Latin clima, climatis, borrowed from Greek klima, meaning 'slope' or 'inclination', originally referring to the slope of the earth relative to the sun and later to zones of latitude. The word therefore shares its root with climatic, acclimatize, and acclimation, all of which concern conditions of weather and adaptation to them.
Related word forms
How climatize is actually used
Climatize is considerably less common than its near-synonyms acclimatize and acclimate; in everyday speech about adjusting to weather or altitude, those variants dominate. The second sense — artificially regulating the climate of a space — appears mostly in technical or horticultural writing. Both transitive and intransitive uses occur.
Easily confused with climatize
Acclimatize is the far more common term for becoming accustomed to a new climate or conditions, while climatize is a rarer variant that can also refer to artificially controlling the climate of a space.