What does exteriorize mean?
To exteriorize something is to bring it from inside to outside: to give outward, visible form to a feeling, thought, or impulse that had been held within. The word belongs mainly to the vocabulary of psychology and psychiatry, where it describes both the healthy act of expressing emotion and a specific defensive process — projection — in which a person unconsciously experiences their own inner conflicts as forces coming from the external world. In older surgical usage it could even refer to bringing an organ to the surface of the body. Exteriorize carries a clinical, somewhat formal tone; most speakers would reach for 'externalize' or simply 'express' in everyday conversation. It derives from 'exterior', ultimately from Latin exter ('outward'), with the suffix -ize marking the act of making so.
verbTo express or give outward form to something that was previously internal — such as a feeling, thought, or impulse. In psychology, it refers to unconsciously attributing or projecting inner mental processes onto the external world.
- To give outward, visible, or tangible expression to something previously held within (feelings, ideas, impulses).
- (Psychology/psychiatry) To project inner mental processes outward, treating them as if they belonged to the external world; historically also, to surgically bring an organ to the body surface.
"Writing in her journal helped her exteriorize the anxiety she had kept bottled up for months."
"Therapy gave him tools to exteriorize his grief rather than burying it."
"In psychoanalytic theory, the patient may exteriorize her conflicts, experiencing them as pressures coming from other people."
Psychiatrists once literally called moving a patient's organs during surgery 'exteriorization' — same word, wildly different meaning.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of exteriorize
Exteriorize was formed in the nineteenth century from the adjective 'exterior', which traces back through French to Latin exter, meaning 'outward' or 'on the outside'. The suffix -ize, borrowed via Greek-derived French, marks the act of making or rendering. It arose as a technical term alongside its rarer counterpart 'internalize'/'interiorize', finding its lasting home in psychological and psychiatric prose of the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Related word forms
How exteriorize is actually used
Formal and largely confined to psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalytic writing; in ordinary speech, 'externalize' or 'express' is preferred. The verb takes a direct object naming what is brought out.
Easily confused with exteriorize
Both mean giving outward expression to something internal, but 'externalize' is the far more common everyday word, while 'exteriorize' leans technical and appears chiefly in psychology and psychiatry.