If a company, industry, or economy globalizes — or is globalized — it starts to do business all over the world, not only at home. A factory that once sold in one country, then opens shops and offices on several continents, has globalized. News writers also stretch it: a problem globalizes when it stops being local and starts touching everyone (a virus, a money crash). The verb can be used with or without an object: markets globalize; bosses globalize a brand. It is a business and news word, a little formal. Though actually, people sometimes say globalize when they only mean “become known abroad” — that is stretching it; the core idea is still worldwide activity, not just one foreign trip.