citify

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To become more like or more in the character of a city.

   • The metropolis grows like a tree in concentric circles, rim upon rim, the inner rings hardening or "citifying" and the outer bark expanding or "urbanizing."
   • The United States of America is not yet a jungle of metropolitan areas, but we are citifying at a very rapid pace.
   • My wife and I happened to have fought with authorities to address the extremely dangerous roads throughout this citifying rural community.
2. 2

   To make more like or more in the character of a city.

   • Harness racing was being citified by crooked lawyers.
   • In her role as a citifying presence, Athena often is associated with political structures, the administration of justice, and the arts of persuasion, such as rhetoric.
   • "But these newcomers are citifying the rural atmosphere." They're also citifying prices.
3. 3

   To make more like a city person.

   • We may be clothed, citified, and civilized, but we carry deep within us the genetic patterns of behavior that served our ancestor, the "killer ape."
   • I reacted to my well-to-do peers, with the help of my roommate and best friend John, by sissifying and citifying them.

The neighborhood

• synonymurbanize
• antonymcountrify