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

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

He could Hellenize and philosophize, and, on occasion, he could Romanticize; but 'The Song of the Bell' shows how deeply, after all, his feeling was rooted in the life of the German people.

From The Life and Works of Friedrich Schiller by Calvin Thomas

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

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

His last name — Adetokunbo — was Hellenized when he finally became a citizen of Greece and received his passport, one month before the Bucks drafted him 15th in 2013.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 23, 2021

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

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

Spahis Suliotes—a warlike Hellenized race of Albanian origin in the Pachalik of Janina.

From The Lion of Janina The Last Days of the Janissaries by Mór Jókai

"We are Hellenizing you at a great rate."

From The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic

The Hellenizing of the seat of empire and of the state, which was essential to the independent development of Byzantine literature, proceeds yet more slowly.

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

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

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

From The Makers and Teachers of Judaism by Charles Foster Kent

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