defamiliarizev.
/ˌdiːfəˈmɪlɪərʌɪz/, U.S. /ˌdifəˈmɪljəˌraɪz/ 1. transitive. To make (something) seem strange or unfamiliar. Also: to cause (a person, the mind) to take a fresh view of something that is familiar (frequently reflexive).In later use influenced by sense 2.
ΚΠ
1862 E. H. Dering Great Sensation vii. 87 She tried to reassure herself by looking at the familiar objects in this her favourite room; but they seemed as though defamiliarised, and looked coldly repelling.
1870 H. Green Shakespeare & Emblem Writers Pref. p. xii To defamiliarise the minds of the public..from the sight of other languages than their own, is injurious to the maintenance of scholarship.
1872 Academy 1 Feb. 57/2 Persons whose mother-tongue is Slavonic..seldom seem equal to the task of defamiliarising themselves with the ordinary vehicle of their thoughts.
1918 Art World Aug. 201/2 By doing this we will defamiliarize ourselves and resharpen our appreciation of what we once considered lovely, good and great.
1991 Independent (Nexis) 11 Aug. 17 ‘The Easy Way to Stop Smoking’..seems to work on the principle of defamiliarising the cigarette.
2015 M. Wallraven Women Writers & Occult in Lit. & Culture viii. 190 Freud's psychoanalytical study results in the conclusion that the uncanny is, in fact, something that is familiar but has been defamiliarised by a process of repression.
2. transitive. In literature and other forms of artistic production: to make (a text, film, etc., or elements within it) seem strange or unfamiliar, esp. by means of drawing attention to the language or formal devices used; to subject to defamiliarization. See defamiliarization n.Often with reference to the literary theories of Russian formalism.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > vigour or force > imbue with vigour or force [verb (transitive)] > defamiliarize
defamiliarize1965
1965 L. T. Lemon & M. J. Reis tr. V. B. Šklovskij Russ. Formalist Crit. 21 Quite often in literature the sexual act itself is defamiliarized [Rus. ostranenie..vstrečaetsja často]; for example, the Decameron refers to ‘scraping out a barrel’, ‘catching nightingales’, ‘gay wool-beating work’.
1976 T. Eagleton Crit. & Ideol. iii. 79 A text may so ‘foreground’ its signifiers as to radically deform, distantiate, and defamiliarise its signified.
1984 Rev. Eng. Stud. 35 352 He attempts to defamiliarize and deconstruct the text and thus account for its persuasive power.
2010 Daily Tel. 4 Mar. 32/3 Without succumbing to flashy directorial touches, he succeeds in defamiliarising the comedy, false-footing expectations.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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