transitive verb

• Adapt (something) to modern needs or habits, typically by installing modern equipment or adopting modern ideas or methods.

  ‘a five-year plan to modernize Algerian agriculture’

  More example sentences

  • ‘These measures had a profound impact on some sectors which modernized their production methods to meet the war's limitless demand for arms and munitions.’
  • ‘We don't know for sure what caused this problem, but updating and modernizing the national grid is important.’
  • ‘So I think we in Congress can help these less wealthy areas of the country update and modernize their technology.’
  • ‘The funding has mostly gone towards improving pitches, modernising clubhouses and installing floodlights.’
  • ‘He set his mind on modernising the estate and developing its tourist potential.’
  • ‘He said the existing store and future developments would attempt to modernise the department store concept.’
  • ‘China is in the process of extensively modernizing its military - both its equipment and its thinking.’
  • ‘We have significantly modernised our skills and our equipment to meet the demands of today's society and of a more expectant public.’
  • ‘The plan is to modernize the buildings and revamp the curriculum.’
  • ‘The bill updates and modernises the language of a range of oaths set out in statute, as well as one declaration, and the words of affirmation that may be used instead of an oath.’
  • ‘Would-be buyers will have to be prepared to modernise certain rooms and update the decor.’
  • ‘The refurbishment has increased the size of the library, modernised its facilities and improved access.’
  • ‘It also announced the intention to modernise the management of common land by updating existing legislation.’
  • ‘It is estimated that 20,000 jobs will be lost as part of the efforts to modernise the forces.’
  • ‘In his mind, he's modernizing the paper, making it not only leaner, but also more responsive to a shifting and restive readership.’
  • ‘You've got to modernize the system in order to be a part of the system.’
  • ‘Will they choose to further modernize this industrialized country by reforming laws and social norms unfair to women?’
  • ‘After the rift was mended, as a mark of reconciliation it was decided to revive and modernize the festival.’
  • ‘Are they wishfully trying to modernize the religion into something it isn't?’
  • ‘It is time to modernize our society to match the rest of the free world.’

  Synonyms

  update, bring up to date, bring into the twenty-first century, drag into the twenty-first century, lead into the twenty-first century, march into the twenty-first century, streamline, rationalize, technologize, overhaul, develop

  get up to date, move with the times, innovate, make alterations, make changes

  View synonyms