Hellenize

American  

[hel-uh-nahyz] / ˈhɛl əˌnaɪz /

especially British, Hellenise

verb (used with object)

Hellenized, Hellenizing

1. to make Greek in character.

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verb (used without object)

Hellenized, Hellenizing

1. to adopt Greek ideas or customs.

Hellenize British  

/ ˈhɛlɪˌnaɪz /

verb

1. to make or become like the ancient Greeks

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Other Word Forms

• Hellenization
  noun
• Hellenizer
  noun
• de-Hellenize
  verb

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Etymology

Origin of Hellenize

First recorded in 1605–15, Hellenize is from the Greek word Hellēnízein to imitate the Greeks, speak Greek. See Hellene, -ize

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Hellenize Hellenized Hellenizing

But unlike the early Christians, who had freed themselves to interpret parts of the Old Testament as metaphor, Maimonides was unwilling to Hellenize his religion completely.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

Have I not sacked the Temple, and on the altar Set up the statue of Olympian Zeus To Hellenize it?

From The Complete Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Lycon of Lacedæmon to Democrates of Athens, greeting:—Can he who Medizes in the summer Hellenize in the spring?

From A Victor of Salamis by William Stearns Davis

The native kings had done much to Hellenize Cappadocia, which had previously received a strong Iranian colour; but it was left to Christianity to complete their work.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various

He set himself to Hellenize or Catholicize Armenian Christianity, and in furtherance of this aim set up a hierarchy officially dependent on the Cappadocian.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel" by Various

Eventually, the brutal repression of Jews who remained in their homeland led to the collapse of the Hellenized Jewish communities throughout the Roman Empire.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 15, 2022

Some speculate that, by the time of the Second Temple, many Jews were Hellenized, and early converts to Christianity were merely borrowing standard Dionysian rites.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 7, 2019

The Maccabees opposed their Hellenized counterparts, and according to some scholars, their revolt really began as a bitter internal fight between religious fundamentalists and reformers.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2015

Read in its historical context, however, the Hanukkah story is really about a revolt against the Hellenized Jews who had fallen madly in love with the sophisticated, globalizing superculture of their day.

From Slate ● Nov. 28, 2013

Rome then, thoroughly Hellenized, had become very fair.

From Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern by Edgar Saltus

But this was not an isolated instance of the methods employed in "Hellenizing" Moslem populations.

From The New Frontiers of Freedom from the Alps to the Ægean by E. Alexander (Edward Alexander) Powell

In each country conquered he usually succeeded in Hellenizing the native peoples.

From The Makers and Teachers of Judaism by Charles Foster Kent

Though divided and subdivided, the effect of those conquests remained to future generations, and had no small effect on civilization, and yet, instead of Hellenizing Asia, he rather Asiatized Hellas.

From Ancient States and Empires by John Lord

However, these islands of Greek culture did not succeed to any great extent in Hellenizing the native populations which remained in a state of subjection, indifferent or hostile to their conquerors.

From A History of Rome to 565 A. D. by Arthur Edward Romilly Boak

Theocritus is not exempt from the artificialism of the Hellenizing literature; but his true sense of natural beauty entitles him to a place in the first rank of pastoral poets.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel" by Various

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