From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpolarizepo‧lar‧ize (also polarise British English) /ˈpəʊləraɪz $ ˈpoʊ-/ verb [intransitive, transitive] formal SEPARATEto divide into clearly separate groups with opposite beliefs, ideas, or opinions, or to make people do this The issue has polarized the country. —polarization /ˌpəʊləraɪˈzeɪʃən $ ˌpoʊlərə-/ noun [uncountable]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
polarize• Player salaries are similarly being polarized.• The community has been polarized by the police brutality case.• Evangelism and social action are polarized instead of being integrated as a united mission agenda for the Church.• It may appear that male and female students are polarized on the basis of biology.• During my public career, everything I did polarized people, was controversial.• A second election was held and a new Duma convened in 1907, but it was even more polarized than its predecessor.• And the argument over Manchester polarized the two ends of the company.• The masculine and feminine positions delineated here are related to polarized versions of the two self-strategies described in previous chapters.• In all likelihood, the racially polarized vote will reinforce Mississippi's negative image far beyond its borders. 