decontextualize
Remove surrounding meaning
To decontextualize something is to remove it from its original context, often in a way that changes or distorts its meaning.
The term appears frequently in discussions of media, quotations, and information sharing, where a statement or image taken out of context can be made to seem very different from what was intended: The clip was decontextualized to make her look heartless.
Academic and critical writing uses decontextualize to describe the process of abstracting ideas from their cultural or historical settings.
To separate from
- extractConcentrated derived substance
- isolateSeparate from others
- separateTo set apart
- disconnectTo break a connection
disengage · disentangle · disembed · divorce · sever · extricate · remove · unhook
Make broadly applicable
- universalizeMake broadly applicable
- abstractCondensed version of text
- theorizeForm explanatory suppositions
- conceptualizeForm a mental picture
intellectualize · depersonalize · objectify · homogenize · standardize · simplify · reduce · neutralize
Facts for analysis
- variablesChangeable elements in equations
- sampleSubset for study
- isolateSeparate from others
- controlAuthority to direct
quantitative · qualitative · methodology · operationalize · reductionism · disaggregate · parse · segment
Formal communication on subjects
- pedagogyArt of instruction
- postmodernismSkepticism toward universal truths
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
- semioticsStudy of signs, symbols
hermeneutics · structuralism · critique · reframe · reinterpret · textual · literary · quotation
detach
To separate from
disconnect · disengage · disentangle · disembed · divorce · sever · extricate · remove · unhook · unmoor
generalize
Make broadly applicable
- universalizeMake broadly applicable
- abstractCondensed version of text
- theorizeForm explanatory suppositions
conceptualize · intellectualize · depersonalize · objectify · homogenize · standardize · simplify · reduce · neutralize · impersonal
data
Facts for analysis
control · quantitative · qualitative · methodology · operationalize · reductionism · disaggregate · parse · segment · dissect
discourse
Formal communication on subjects
- pedagogyArt of instruction
- postmodernismSkepticism toward universal truths
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
semiotics · hermeneutics · structuralism · critique · reframe · reinterpret · textual · literary · quotation · citation
decontextualizecontextualize
Place within surrounding circumstances
recontextualize · situate · embed · ground · historicize