A word for "to make more concrete" in philosophical context?


I am looking for a verb for to make more concrete. Initially, I chose to practialize but it is not an English term according to ispell. Please, come up with verbs of the same meaning.


Example


The situation where I want to use this is in philosophy. The sentence is like this



XYZ philosophical ideas are meant to make THX issues more practical over long-term but solving the practical problems requires in the first step critical understanding of present state through certain philosophical machinery.



The reason I want to avoid the term practical is that it has a bit of a diverted meaning in this context — the goal is to make abstract ideas to help other people, not necessarily physical things but to transform technical issues into practical.


Even the term practical is a bit diverted here. I am writing a synopsis about a very long philosophical article where the author redefines or moulds the original meaning of practice into reasoning, judging and perception.


Clearly I want to avoid this term because it means something altogether different to normal. I need to find another way to describe the original author's desire for to make things more practical, not by repetitively using practical, but some variety to this process with words having different connotations and background.


Initially, I thought that I would favor scientific terms such as precipitate from Chemistry because of the technical background in my course but I am now unsure, it may make the text too hard to read.



Answer



I think that the phrase make more concrete is perfectly acceptable. You shouldn't worry too much about repetition if the word or phrase is correct in the context.


But since you're looking for more options:





  • Crystallise - make free from confusion or ambiguity; make clear; — The Free Dictionary




  • Make (more) tangible where tangible means able to be touched.



  • Elucidate - to make clear or plain, especially by explanation; clarify. — The Free Dictionary






  • Materialise - come into being; become reality. — The Free Dictionary





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