Hellenize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Hellenize
First recorded in 1605–15, Hellenize is from the Greek word Hellēnízein to imitate the Greeks, speak Greek. See Hellene, -ize
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.
See Examples For:
But unlike the early Christians, who had freed themselves to interpret parts of the Old Testament as metaphor, Maimonides was unwilling to Hellenize his religion completely.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
The native kings had done much to Hellenize Cappadocia, which had previously received a strong Iranian colour; but it was left to Christianity to complete their work.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various
They did not abolish the individuality of either; they did not Hellenize even so much of West Asia as they succeeded in holding to the end.
From The Ancient East by D. G. (David George) Hogarth
He set himself to Hellenize or Catholicize Armenian Christianity, and in furtherance of this aim set up a hierarchy officially dependent on the Cappadocian.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel" by Various
He could Hellenize and philosophize, and, on occasion, he could Romanticize; but 'The Song of the Bell' shows how deeply, after all, his feeling was rooted in the life of the German people.
From The Life and Works of Friedrich Schiller by Calvin Thomas
Eventually, the brutal repression of Jews who remained in their homeland led to the collapse of the Hellenized Jewish communities throughout the Roman Empire.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 15, 2022
Some speculate that, by the time of the Second Temple, many Jews were Hellenized, and early converts to Christianity were merely borrowing standard Dionysian rites.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 7, 2019
The Maccabees opposed their Hellenized counterparts, and according to some scholars, their revolt really began as a bitter internal fight between religious fundamentalists and reformers.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2015
Read in its historical context, however, the Hanukkah story is really about a revolt against the Hellenized Jews who had fallen madly in love with the sophisticated, globalizing superculture of their day.
From Slate ● Nov. 28, 2013
Many Jews inhabited Alexandria, but there they were half Hellenized; here for the first time she saw Jews as the procurator had described them, and as they were in their own native nest.
From Hania by Henryk Sienkiewicz
But with Justinian, who codified the laws in his Corpus juris, the Hellenizing of the legal language also began.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel" by Various
Indeed, the plans of Alexander embraced nothing less than the union and Hellenizing of the world.
From General History for Colleges and High Schools by Philip Van Ness Myers
The Hellenizing of the seat of empire and of the state, which was essential to the independent development of Byzantine literature, proceeds yet more slowly.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel" by Various
Yet the most interesting, as well as the most important, feature of the age is the diffusion of Hellenic culture—the "Hellenizing" of the Orient.
From Early European History by Hutton Webster
Theocritus is not exempt from the artificialism of the Hellenizing literature; but his true sense of natural beauty entitles him to a place in the first rank of pastoral poets.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel" by Various
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.
