What does motorizing mean?
Motorizing means fitting something with a motor or using motor-driven power to make it move. The form is most often encountered as the present participle of motorize, particularly in descriptions of boats, vehicles, industrial systems, and mechanical equipment. In “motorizing an old boat,” for example, it describes the process of converting a boat so that a motor supplies its motive power. The word can also describe the power source itself actively driving a mechanism, as when an electric motor motorizes a camera mount. Its register is broadly neutral, though it is especially associated with technical and engineering language. Motorizing is more specific than simply moving something: the action normally involves a motor or an arrangement of mechanical power. The related forms include the verb motorize, the adjective motorized, and the noun motorization, which names the process or the state of being equipped with motive power.
verbEquipping a vehicle, machine, or system with a motor, or providing motive power to make it move.
- Equipping a vehicle, machine, or system with a motor or motor-driven mechanism.
- Providing motive power to make a device or system move.
"They spent the winter motorizing an old boat for use on the lake."
"They are motorizing the old boat for use on the lake."
"An electric motor is motorizing the camera's pan mechanism."
From the Latin motor, meaning “mover,” the word’s core idea has always been power that puts things in motion.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does motorizing come from?
Motorizing is the present participle of motorize, formed from motor and the suffix -ize. The noun motor comes from Latin motor, meaning “mover” or “one that moves,” ultimately derived from movere, “to move.” The same Latin foundation appears in cognates and related English words such as motive, motion, and motorist.
Related word forms
How motorizing is actually used
This is the present participle of motorize. It normally describes an ongoing or intended act, as in “motorizing a vehicle,” and is more common in technical, industrial, and motorsport contexts than in everyday speech.