reify

/ˌriəˈfaɪ/

Other forms: reified; reifying

When you reify something abstract, you make it real. You might reify your affection for Italy by hanging posters of the Italian Riviera on your wall and cooking Italian food every night.

Reify, which is three syllables — ree-uh-fye — comes from the Latin word res, which means "thing," with the suffix -fy, meaning "make into" or "produce," which you know from verbs like "horrify" and "falsify." You may already know the Latin word res, too. From your study of literature, you've probably encountered the phrase in medias res, "in the middle of things," used to describe a story that begins in the middle of the action.

Definitions of reify

1. verb

   consider an abstract concept to be real
   types:

   hypostatise, hypostatize

   construe as a real existence, of a conceptual entity

   type of:

   consider, reckon, regard, see, view

   deem to be