allegorize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to make into an allegory; narrate allegorically.
-
to understand in an allegorical sense; interpret allegorically.
verb (used without object)
verb
-
to transform (a story, narrative, fable, etc) into or compose in the form of allegory
-
(tr) to interpret allegorically
Other Word Forms
- allegorization noun
- allegorizer noun
- overallegorize verb (used with object)
- unallegorized adjective
Etymology
Origin of allegorize
1425–75; late Middle English < Late Latin allēgorīzāre; allegory, -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.
Shostakovich flagrantly abuses these genres to allegorize how most of the men in his opera treat most of the women.
From New York Times • Oct. 6, 2022
In 2021, though, it’s rare that a genre pic doesn’t attempt to allegorize contemporary social problems.
From Slate • Aug. 26, 2021
There are plenty of obvious ways a 21st-century novelist could allegorize a story like Brinkley’s.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 23, 2013
He was a theater experimenter, a provider of vivid, cacophonous stage tableaus, incorporating ballads, verse and mime within demanding scripts that often used historical settings to dramatize, allude to or allegorize timeless issues.
From New York Times • Apr. 3, 2012
Paradoxically, in his exposition of the law, Philo follows the letter more closely as the expression of justice, while the later rabbis often allegorize it in order to support their humaner interpretation.
From Philo-Judaeus of Alexandria by Bentwich, Norman
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.
