To contextualize something is to look at it together with the situation, events, or information around it, not all alone. Don’t judge a sentence, a photo, a number, or an old custom by itself — look at what was happening around it. Teachers ask students to contextualize a quote. History writers contextualize a war. Though actually, this is rather a school-and-essay verb. In ordinary talk, people say “you have to see it in context” instead. American spelling is contextualize; British spelling is often contextualise. Same word, same meaning.

脈絡化；把……放回脈絡裡來看。台灣學術／教育界用「脈絡化」；中國大陸較常說「語境化」。口語比較會說「要看上下文／當時情況」。