glorify
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to make glorious
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to make more splendid; adorn
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to worship, exalt, or adore
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to extol
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to cause to seem more splendid or imposing than reality
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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deglorifyverb (used with object)
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glorifiableadjective
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self-glorifiedadjective
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unglorifiedadjective
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reglorifyverb (used with object)
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glorifiernoun
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self-glorifyingadjective
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unglorifyingadjective
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has glorifiedperfect 3rd person singular
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have glorifiedperfect
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am glorifyingprogressive 1st person singular
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is glorifyingprogressive 3rd person singular
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glorifiessingular 3rd person
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has been glorifyingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are glorifyingprogressive
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have been glorifyingperfect progressive
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glorifyingparticiple
Past
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had glorifiedperfect
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was glorifyingprogressive singular
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glorifiedsimple
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glorifiedparticiple
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were glorifyingprogressive plural
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had been glorifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of glorify
1300–50; Middle English < Old French glorifier < Late Latin glōrificāre. See glory, -fy
Explanation
To glorify is to praise or honor something or someone to an extreme degree. If you like someone, you might compliment or praise them, but glorifying takes that a step further. When something is glorified, it is praised to the highest degree possible. It seems right that great people like Martin Luther King and Gandhi are glorified. It can seem odd when athletes are glorified just for playing a game. Often this word is used in a negative sense. For example, a movie with lots of explosions could be said "to glorify violence."
Vocabulary lists containing glorify
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His latest epic, “Mount Olympus: To Glorify the Cult of Tragedy,” is a 24-hour performance, an “attack on time,” as he has called it.
From New York Times • Nov. 8, 2018
"Glorify or vilify them. The one thing you can't do is ignore them."
From The Verge • Mar. 25, 2015
Lord, to Thee I now surrender All I have, and all I am; Make my heart more true and tender, Glorify in me Thy Name, Let obedience To Thy will be all my aim.
From Morning and Evening Prayers for All Days of the Week Together With Confessional, Communion, and Other Prayers and Hymns for Mornings and Evenings, and Other Occasions by Habermann, John
Thy elbows on the table! gaze around; Glorify me with joy and be at rest.
From The Poems and Prose Poems of Charles Baudelaire with an Introductory Preface by James Huneker by Baudelaire, Charles
We have Reason to Glorify the Free Grace of God, that we are not our selves the Instances.
From Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Illustrative Documents by Jameson, J. Franklin (John Franklin)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
