Mobilize means to organize people and forces in pursuit of a particular objective. Mobilize often refers to organizing in the face of an emergency or war. Mobilize also means to literally render something mobile, to make something capable of movement. Mobilize is a transitive verb, which means it takes an object. Mobilize is the North American spelling, related words are mobilizes, mobilized, mobilizing, mobilizable, mobilizer and mobilization.
Mobilise is an accepted British spelling. Related words are mobilises, mobilised, mobilising mobilisation, mobiliser and mobilisation. The American spelling of mobilize is also considered correct and is gaining acceptance around the world.
Mobilize and mobilise are examples of a group of words that are spelled with a “z” in American English and an “s” in British English. Mobilize came into the language in the mid-nineteenth century from the French word mobiliser, meaning to move.
Examples
Now, he is working with Project MUSA, which stands for Muslims United for Solidarity and Action, CAIR’s activist training and community organizing program that helped mobilize in favor of Proposition 47 — the sentencing-reduction measure that passed in 2014. (The Press Enterprise)
Turkey, Kurdish rebels appear to mobilize for return to days of all-out conflict (U.S. News & World Report)
Police, mental health team mobilize to reach kids witnessing violence (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
Labour leadership frontrunner Andy Burnham has vowed to ‘mobilise’ protests against Tory plans to make it harder for trade unions to call strikes. (Daily Mail)
Addressing dozens of flood victims at Chachran in Khanpur tehsil of Rahim Yar Khan, the premier warned that no slackness would be tolerated on the part of any official, as he called upon the authorities to mobilise all resources for relief and rehabilitation efforts. (The Express-Tribune)