Definition of "denationalize"

denationalize

/diːˈnæʃ(ə)nəlaɪz/

verb
third-person singular simple present denationalizes, present participle denationalizing, simple past and past participle denationalized
1. (transitive) To transfer the control and ownership of an industry from government to private hands; to privatize.
2. (transitive) To strip of nationhood; to cease to recognise, or allow to exist, as a nation.
  Quotations
  Doubtless, in thus denationalizing the Tahitians, as it were, the missionaries were prompted by a sincere desire for good; […]
  1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […]
  What does signify, however, is the assumption that evangelical missions introduce or maintain an alien culture and that they denationalize.
  1933, John T. Tucker, Angola, the land of the blacksmith prince