eulogize

American  

[yoo-luh-jahyz] / ˈju ləˌdʒaɪz /

especially British, eulogise

verb (used with object)

• eulogizes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• eulogized,
  past participle,  past
• eulogizing
  present participle

1. to praise highly.

   Synonyms:

   panegyrize, commend, laud, extol

2. to speak or write a eulogy about.

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eulogize British  

/ ˈjuːləˌdʒaɪz /

verb

1. to praise (a person or thing) highly in speech or writing

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• eulogist
  noun
• eulogization
  noun
• eulogizer
  noun
• eulogistic
  adjective
• uneulogized
  adjective
• eulogistically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• eulogizing
  present
• eulogized
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• eulogize
  simple
• eulogizes
  simple
• have eulogized
  perfect
• has eulogized
  perfect
• am eulogizing
  progressive
• are eulogizing
  progressive
• is eulogizing
  progressive
• have been eulogizing
  perfect progressive
• has been eulogizing
  perfect progressive

Past

• eulogized
  simple
• had eulogized
  perfect
• was eulogizing
  progressive
• were eulogizing
  progressive
• had been eulogizing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will eulogize
  simple
• will have eulogized
  perfect
• will be eulogizing
  progressive
• will have been eulogizing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of eulogize

First recorded in 1800–10; eulog(y) + -ize

Explanation

To eulogize someone is to talk about how much you respect and admire them, especially as a memorial after their death. At funerals, sometimes several people eulogize the deceased person. You can eulogize a living person — particularly if she has retired from a job — or even a place or a group. You might eulogize your elementary school after it's been closed, or eulogize the coach of your basketball team after she's left for a job in another town. The verb eulogize comes from eulogy, a speech that praises, from the Greek root eulogia, "praise" or "fine language," from eu, "well," and -logia, "speaking."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

eulogize eulogizes eulogized eulogizing

Swaths of the book eulogize its demise—in particular, the interactive tour displays and gallery of first lady portraits Jill had taken care to update during her husband’s administration.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026

And I was asked to eulogize them because of my closeness with all the family.

From Slate ● Dec. 16, 2023

And over the course of an hour, a stream of friends and colleagues stood up at the podium to eulogize Marie.

From Scientific American ● May 4, 2023

Francis will eulogize his predecessor at the funeral, which the Vatican has said would be marked by the simplicity that Benedict requested.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 3, 2023

“You have your whole life ahead of you to eulogize celebrities.”

From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera

She eulogizes the emoticon, that conglomeration of punctuation marks that English-language texters used to convey feelings before the arrival in 2010 of the emoji.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Francis will have the final word on Thursday, when he eulogizes Benedict, whom he has praised for his courage in “opening the door” to letting other popes retire.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 1, 2023

Then he arms Indian villagers with guns to fight their colonial oppressors before launching into a lavish song-and-dance number that eulogizes a list of real-life revolutionaries from Indian history.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 12, 2022

In an interview with Spin, from 2014, Paisley, who has a partner and children, said that he sometimes eulogizes his romantic entanglements prematurely.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 4, 2018

But if the originality of the single individual is felt by the herd, then it follows and respects and reveres him, and later it erects statues in his honor and eulogizes him.

From The Bride of Dreams by Mellie von Auw

The usually composed general broke down in tears as he eulogized his son at the funeral.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

"Every moment of commander Ramiro's life was characterized by his absolute loyalty to the governments of Fidel and Raul and to his struggle companions," Diaz-Canel eulogized.

From Barron's ● Jun. 21, 2026

“I eulogized her and I didn’t want to,” the actor-director said Monday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2024

I remember, as if it were yesterday, sitting in an Alabama church as the Baptist preacher eulogized my grandmother.

From Salon ● May 12, 2024

For a moment, before he receded from history, too, White was eulogized as a good man who had solved the murders of the Osage.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

His band has received favorable reviews from the publication, but even those with low scores found themselves eulogizing the entity.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 20, 2024

The second-worst moment of my life so far was eulogizing, a few days after Oct.

From Slate ● Dec. 16, 2023

Two days later, the sky heavy with clouds, she took the microphone again on the City Hall steps and led San Francisco in a ceremony eulogizing its slain leaders.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2023

How, then, can artists and authors make the movement new again, push back against the media eulogizing and find a new way to tell a depressingly familiar story?

From Washington Post ● Nov. 22, 2022

And yet those very same employees who once heaped praise on him will be too busy eulogizing some new figure to stop and examine their sense of judgement.

From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Related Words

• applaud
• commend
• extol
• idolize
• laud