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

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

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

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

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

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

They did not abolish the individuality of either; they did not Hellenize even so much of West Asia as they succeeded in holding to the end.

From The Ancient East by D. G. (David George) Hogarth

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

With its advance the native languages and old religions gradually disappeared, and at last the whole country was thoroughly Hellenized, and the people united by identity of language and religion.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 7 "Arundel, Thomas" to "Athens" by Various

The complete Latinizing of the West has, accordingly, no counterpart in a similar Hellenizing of the East.

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

"We are Hellenizing you at a great rate."

From The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic

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

It might have been expected that the Hellenizing of the political system of the Eastern empire would have likewise entailed the Hellenizing of the non-Greek portions of the empire.

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

Hellenizing first the Eastern Mediterranean, and then taking captive her rude conqueror, the Hellenization of the Roman and early Christian world was the result.

From The History of Education; educational practice and progress considered as a phase of the development and spread of western civilization by Ellwood Patterson Cubberley