deify
Americanverb
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to exalt to the position of a god or personify as a god
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to accord divine honour or worship to
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to exalt in an extreme way; idealize
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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deifiernoun
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hyperdeifyverb (used with object)
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half-deifiedadjective
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self-deifyingadjective
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undeifiedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deifysimple
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deifiessimple
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have deifiedperfect
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has deifiedperfect
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am deifyingprogressive
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are deifyingprogressive
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is deifyingprogressive
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have been deifyingperfect progressive
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has been deifyingperfect progressive
Past
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deifiedsimple
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had deifiedperfect
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was deifyingprogressive
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were deifyingprogressive
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had been deifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deify
1300–50; Middle English deifien < Old French deifier < Late Latin deificāre. See deification, -ify
Explanation
When you deify someone, you're paying the highest compliment: you're treating them like a god. Maybe it's because people like to exaggerate, but we deify all the time. We deify the latest sports stars, singers, and actors. When politicians are popular, we deify them. Great writers and artists of the past — like Shakespeare and Picasso — are deified. Anytime we make someone seem so great, so powerful, so wonderful, and so amazing that it can't possibly be true, we're deifying them. Putting someone on a pedestal is something that we often do when we respect or love the person a lot.
Vocabulary lists containing deify
Power Suffix: -fy
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Mythology
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Between the World and Me
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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.
See Examples For:
“It’s really important for students to not deify one historical person, one figure, but to understand the motivation and the movement,” Young said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2026
We build monuments and deify leaders in an effort to transcend our mortality.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 28, 2022
It’s a fascinating exploration of the paradoxes of humanity’s religious instincts — and the power of followers to deify flawed mortals against their will.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 28, 2022
American society tends to deify businesses and and athletes, he said.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 27, 2021
Man’s subliminal urge to destroy what he could neither subdue nor deify.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
While Butler humanizes Elvis, Luhrmann deifies him and argues that he possessed far more radical potential, both musically and politically, than he was allowed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2022
Gebru said the way the tech industry is covered by the media, which to her deifies tech leaders, helps shield tech companies from scrutiny.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 15, 2021
“Some men she extols, exalts, and almost deifies; others, whose virtues are far greater, and whose characters are more deserving of commendation, she passes by unheeded, and puts the finger of silence on her lips.”
From Washington Times ● Sep. 16, 2020
Anyone else get the reference of Wags' comment abou moving Taylor "closer to the bima"? Obviously, he deifies Axe.
From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2017
When the rabble at last repent, Priestcraft shifts its tactics and deifies the sacrifice, which it instigated, and so perpetuates the eternal tragedy.
From The New Avatar and The Destiny of the Soul The Findings of Natural Science Reduced to Practical Studies in Psychology by J. D. (Jirah Dewey) Buck
Ronald Reagan, who was once deified by American conservatives, saw his approval ratings plummet from 63% to 47% in December 1986 following news of the Iran-Contra scandal.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2025
The themes of performances at Mr Gopalakrishnan's house include honouring a deified ancestor, venerating a warrior-hunter deity, and worshipping tiger spirits symbolising strength and protection.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2024
But rather than commune with Marika, his deified mother, Miquella wants to escape the strictures and expectations of her Golden Order.
From New York Times ● Jun. 18, 2024
Professional athletes — particularly male ones — are often deified by the public, said Derek Van Rheenen, an education professor at UC Berkeley who studies the intersection of sports and society.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2020
By 1608 it was possible to complain that ‘nowadays the discoverers of new things are virtually deified’.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
The deifying worked well enough when Stoops, a self-described “program guy,” ruled Norman.
From New York Times ● Nov. 29, 2021
“They are not perfect. They are not perfect. We have to stop deifying them,” Mr. Lemon said.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 9, 2020
It acts as a deifying diptych to that of The Epic – from space to the earthly pursuit of heaven.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 21, 2019
One is a pitch-dark, but also visually cute, animated series that has perfected, by not deifying or lauding, the antihero, who this season was even more explicitly shown to be a #MeToo creep.
From Slate ● Dec. 15, 2018
Civic virtues stand lowest, then follow the purifying, and finally the deifying virtues.
From History of Dogma, Volume 1 (of 7) by Neil Buchanan
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.
