glorify
Americanverb (used with object)
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glorifies,
present (3rd person singular)
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glorified,
past participle, past
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glorifying
present participle
verb
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to make glorious
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to make more splendid; adorn
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to worship, exalt, or adore
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to extol
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to cause to seem more splendid or imposing than reality
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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glorifiernoun
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deglorifyverb (used with object)
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reglorifyverb (used with object)
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glorifiableadjective
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self-glorifiedadjective
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self-glorifyingadjective
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unglorifiedadjective
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unglorifyingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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glorifysimple
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glorifiessimple
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have glorifiedperfect
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has glorifiedperfect
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am glorifyingprogressive
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are glorifyingprogressive
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is glorifyingprogressive
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have been glorifyingperfect progressive
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has been glorifyingperfect progressive
Past
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glorifiedsimple
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had glorifiedperfect
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was glorifyingprogressive
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were glorifyingprogressive
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had been glorifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of glorify
1300–50; Middle English < Old French glorifier < Late Latin glōrificāre. See glory, -fy
Explanation
To glorify is to praise or honor something or someone to an extreme degree. If you like someone, you might compliment or praise them, but glorifying takes that a step further. When something is glorified, it is praised to the highest degree possible. It seems right that great people like Martin Luther King and Gandhi are glorified. It can seem odd when athletes are glorified just for playing a game. Often this word is used in a negative sense. For example, a movie with lots of explosions could be said "to glorify violence."
Vocabulary lists containing glorify
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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:
Nawrocki said Kyiv's "decision to glorify the UPA is not only outrageous" but also "deeply disappointing", undermining "reconciliation" between the two nations.
From Barron's ● Jun. 20, 2026
The goal is to get people to think, not to mock or glorify violence in any way, the Secret Handshake rep said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026
“The campaign to glorify him,” wrote one biographer in 1988, “has surpassed fanatic religious fervor. The North Korean ‘sun of the nation’ shines both day and night, and it is hard to escape his ubiquity.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
Naturally, such arches tend to glorify the emperor.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2025
It is important to keep in mind, though, that many rappers and hip-hop artists do not aim to glorify or romanticize gangsta life or culture.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
They will also be held directly responsible for protecting under-18s from pornography, online bullying, content that glorifies crime, and content that encourages eating disorders.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
Klee’s “National Socialist Revolution Drawings”—childlike works merging abstraction and expressionism—also challenged the Führer’s demand for “realism” that glorifies the Nordic‑German ideal of beauty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
The press glorifies Dudamel as the next Leonard Bernstein one minute and looks for flaws anywhere it can find them the next.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2025
"There is no place for demonstrations, convoys, or flag-waving on British streets that glorifies terrorism or harasses the Jewish community," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2023
It was a day of little things; the little things Love glorifies.
From Diana Tempest, Volume III (of 3) by Mary Cholmondeley
‘Spider-Noir’ star Nicolas Cage says the MCU started off ‘marvelous’ but is becoming more like a ‘well-funded and glorified WWE.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
James McCreadie: Fans are getting sick and tired of losing players to what is a glorified friendly.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
Everyday people are likely to view traditional chatbots as glorified search engines, he believes.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 3, 2026
Yes, you’re getting a glorified ad for a tech company, but this wasn’t going to have the uncanny-valley, human-repelling motifs so common in all the other infomercials for A.I. products.
From Slate ● Oct. 1, 2026
The mud wall, short and pocked with holes, enclosed the tiny house—which was really not much more than a glorified hut.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
“Duchamp Takes New York” readily conforms to the predictable narrative about the artist, glorifying his influence and spirit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Sansal may be free, but prominent French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes remains in an Algerian prison, sentenced to seven years for "glorifying terrorism" for having sought to interview an outlawed group.
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025
"Remembrance has never been about glorifying war. It's about recognising its cost: the lives changed forever and the lessons paid for, through unimaginable sacrifice," writes Prince Harry.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2025
It’s not surprising that a movie glorifying Formula One wouldn’t get into the well-documented controversies that have plagued the sport.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025
The colors deepened, glorifying Ishtar and pushing Nergal into a darkness that verged on consuming existence.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
