become technologically advanced; "Many countries in Asia are now developing at a very fast pace"; "Viet Nam is modernizing rapidly"
mod·ern·ize modernizes modernizing modernized in BRIT, also use modernise To modernize something such as a system or a factory means to change it by replacing old equipment or methods with new ones. plans to modernize the refinery + modernizing mod·ern·iz·ing In effect, modernizing societies are portrayed as battlegrounds. + modernization mod·erni·za·tion a five-year modernization programme