The process of removing physical or material characteristics from something, or making something less dependent on physical forms or matter.
From de- (remove) + physical + -ization (the process of becoming). 'Physical' comes from Latin 'physicalis' (relating to nature/matter). This modern word emerged in philosophy and technology discussions about abstract versus concrete.
In our digital age, we're constantly 'dephyscicalizing' things—music went from vinyl records to invisible data files, books became e-books, money became credit card numbers. The word describes this massive shift from 'stuff you can hold' to 'stuff that only exists as information.'
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