1. reduced to or characterized by essential qualities only; simplified to fundamental characteristics
Usage: academic; often used in critical theory and sociology

Examples

• The critic argued that the film presented an essentialized view of rural life.
• Her essentialized portrayal of the culture ignored its complexity and diversity.
• The debate centered on whether gender roles had become too essentialized in society.
• Scholars warned against essentialized thinking about ethnic communities.
• The essentialized version of the theory lost much of its original sophistication.
• Marketing often relies on essentialized images of consumer groups.