denaturalize

/diːˈnæt(jə)ɹəlaɪz/

Etymology

From de- + naturalize.

denaturalize means to revoke or deny the citizenship of. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why this word is great

DENATURALIZE — [Verb] To revoke or deprive someone of their acquired citizenship, severing the formal bond between individual and state. From English prefix de- (indicating reversal or removal) + naturalize (from natural, ultimately from Latin naturalis, from natura "birth, nature"). Unlike "expatriate" (which often implies a voluntary renunciation) or "denationalize" (which chiefly strips a corporation of state control), to denaturalize is an act of cold, bureaucratic unmaking. It is the sudden void in a passport, the crisp stamp that dissolves a lifetime of tax returns, and the official letter that renders a lifetime of belonging into so much invalid paper—a quiet demonstration that the most profound attachments can be undone by the stroke of a pen.

verb

To revoke or deny the citizenship of.“After the regime fell, the leader was executed and the principal party members were denaturalized and deported.”
To make less natural; to cause to deviate from its nature.“Henchard was, by original make, the last man to act stealthily, for good or for evil. But the solicitus timor of his love — the dependence upon Elizabeth's love into which he had declined (or, in another sense, to which he had advanced) — denaturalized him.”
To cease to treat as natural.“One question these scenes pose for cultural theory is whether such depictions denaturalize rape and denormalize masculinist pleasure in viewing sexual violence.”