Psychology: a defense mechanism in which an individual employs abstract reasoning and logic to explain or cope with a situation, thereby reducing or avoiding emotional involvement.

His intellectualization of the traumatic event helped him cope, but it also distanced him from his feelings.

The act or process of making something intellectual in character or treating a subject in a highly abstract, analytical manner.

The intellectualization of popular culture has led scholars to study comic books and video games with academic rigor.

Linguistics/Sociology: the deliberate development of a language so that it can be used for formal, scholarly, or technical discourse.

Efforts toward the intellectualization of Swahili included creating scientific terminology for use in universities.