glamorize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make glamorous.
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to glorify or romanticize.
an adventure film that tended to glamorize war.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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glamorizationnoun
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glamorizernoun
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overglamorizeverb (used with object)
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overglamourizeverb (used with object)
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unglamorizedadjective
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unglamourizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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glamorizesimple
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glamorizessimple
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have glamorizedperfect
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has glamorizedperfect
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am glamorizingprogressive
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are glamorizingprogressive
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is glamorizingprogressive
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have been glamorizingperfect progressive
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has been glamorizingperfect progressive
Past
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glamorizedsimple
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had glamorizedperfect
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was glamorizingprogressive
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were glamorizingprogressive
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had been glamorizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of glamorize
An Americanism dating back to 1935–40; glamor ( def. ) + -ize
Explanation
When you make something seem more attractive or exciting than it really is, you glamorize it. Movies you've seen might glamorize camping, but after three days with no shower, you may find it less enticing. Making anything appear glamorous is to glamorize it. So you can glamorize your dog by dressing him in a fancy velvet collar studded with jewels. It's more common, however, to use this verb for the act of making difficult or dangerous things seem very alluring. A book might glamorize a climb to the top of Mt. Everest (which is actually very dangerous), and an old movie might glamorize the life of a gangster (which was decidedly less luxurious once he was convicted and imprisoned).
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 didn’t valorize or glamorize the economic downturn; it just portrayed it in the way that the people who lived there experienced it.
From Salon ● Jan. 27, 2026
Michael Mann’s Ferrari may glamorize speed, but Mann isn’t shy about showing its consequences.
From Slate ● Nov. 27, 2023
Did I glamorize Los Angeles in a way that she would immediately find annoying?
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2023
While Mr. Earnest was careful not to glamorize intelligence work, he also seemed to enjoy occasionally pulling back the curtain on the life of the spy.
From New York Times ● Feb. 19, 2022
“I suppose I did glamorize it a bit,” he admitted.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
“I don't find that this movie glamorizes suicide. I don't find that this movie simplifies suicide. I think it shows it for the complexity.”
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2024
The book is also a love letter to activism, which isn’t to say it glamorizes it.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 10, 2022
While he has difficulty aligning his belief in a classless society with the royal family, he doesn’t think “The Crown” glamorizes them, despite its pageantry and splendor.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2020
Martin Scorsese has directed a significant part of his energy toward putting organized crime on-screen in a way that effectively if not technically glamorizes it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2019
Jones said she’s aware that some critics of the franchise believe the series glamorizes teen pregnancy to young viewers.
From Fox News ● Oct. 26, 2019
Even crime in Orange County has been sensationalized and glamorized, with themes veneered by opulence, secrecy and illusions of suburban perfection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2026
"It's very glamorized, and it feels very professional and fun," said Grace Stark, a world 100m bronze medallist in Tokyo last month.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2025
Lestat’s figment doubles as his love’s guilty conscience and a glamorized memory.
From Salon ● May 26, 2024
But Bernstein’s rise, recently glamorized in the Oscar-nominated “Maestro,” showed that conductors from the United States could compete with their finest counterparts across the Atlantic.
From New York Times ● Mar. 6, 2024
Now that he had gone, these things, so long subdued by his presence, were glamorized in his wake.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
Though the streamer’s history of glamorizing and heightening heinous acts isn’t necessarily indicative of the quality of “The Perfect Neighbor,” it does cloud the documentary’s release with apprehension.
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2025
Bayona’s film seeks to honor the story and strays away from glamorizing or sensationalizing the horrors the passengers and crew members endured.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
In another, a man rants about tech being “over-glamorized” while acknowledging his own contributions to the glamorizing.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2023
“It wasn’t about glamorizing or promoting anything except telling her story that then could be a vehicle for others to have these very difficult conversations.”
From Washington Times ● Dec. 11, 2022
Now, I regularly see stories glamorizing Wonder Valley and the eclectic lifestyle offered here.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2022
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.
