WordGarden.ioexternalize
C2Pronunciation
UK
- /ɛkstˈɜːnəlˌaɪz/
US
- /ɛkstˈɜːnəlˌaɪz/
Meanings
Verb
to express inner thoughts, feelings, or ideas outwardly
to treat an inner feeling or conflict as coming from outside oneself
to shift costs, risks, or functions outside an organization or system
More meaningsFewer meanings
to move data, settings, or behavior outside a program or component
Beyond the definition
Imagine your feelings are like colorful balloons tucked away inside you. To externalize them is to bring those balloons out into the light—to express what's happening on the inside so it can be seen by the rest of the world. It's the act of taking something internal and making it observable, tangible, or real.
We often talk about externalizing emotions; if someone bottles up their frustration for years, a therapist might encourage them to externalize those feelings through conversation, journaling, or art. But you can also externalize ideas—turning a fleeting thought into a concrete plan, a story, or even a physical model. It is the essential process of bringing something from within yourself out to where others can understand and interact with it.
To externalize means to express or reveal something that originates from within—such as thoughts, feelings, or beliefs—in an outward, perceptible manner. At its core, the word describes a movement from the internal to the external, making subjective states visible, audible, or tangible.
The term is a cornerstone of psychology and therapy. It refers to the process of bringing unconscious emotions or past experiences into conscious awareness to be expressed openly. For instance, a child might externalize their fears by drawing them, making a scary thought something they can look at and manage rather than something that lives only inside them. Similarly, in "narrative therapy," people are taught to externalize problems by viewing them as separate entities. Instead of saying "I am a failure," a person learns to say "Failure is trying to influence me," which creates the psychological distance needed for objective problem-solving.
In the worlds of business and economics, the word takes on a more systemic meaning. To externalize costs is to shift the expenses or negative consequences of an activity onto outside parties or society at large. For example, a factory might externalize the cost of waste management by releasing pollutants into the air rather than paying for proper filtration. On a more practical level, a company might externalize its operations through outsourcing—moving internal tasks to external providers to increase efficiency.
Whether it involves sharing your inner world, reframing a personal struggle, or shifting business processes outward, to externalize is to bring something from the private, internal realm into the public, external sphere, making it accessible for others (or even yourself) to analyze and address.
Examples
- 1
Anger
He tends to externalize his anger by picking fights with people around him.
- 2
Creative expression
Writing music helped her externalize feelings she had kept hidden for years.
- 3
Therapy
In therapy, she learned to externalize the problem instead of seeing it as part of who she was.
- Phraseexternalize the problem
treat it as something separate from yourself
- 4
Blame shifting
When the project failed, the manager externalized the blame and criticized the market.
More examplesFewer examples
- 5
Outsourcing
The company externalized its customer support to a firm overseas.
- Patternexternalize a task
move it outside the organization
See also
Similar
Shades of meaning
Contrast
Used with (collocations)
- externalize feelings
- externalize emotions
- externalize thoughts
Word family
- externalization
- externalized
Explore
- self-expression
- projection
Forms and spellings
1 form open this card.
Main spelling
- externalizeverb