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Hellenize

American  
[hel-uh-nahyz] / ˈhɛl əˌnaɪz /
especially British, Hellenise

verb (used with object)

Hellenized, Hellenizing
  1. to make Greek in character.


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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

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

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:

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

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 Thomas, Calvin

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 Davis, William Stearns

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 Hogarth, D. G. (David George)

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 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

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

The urban element among the Vlachs has been almost completely Hellenized; it has always displayed great aptitude for commerce, and Athens owes many of its handsomest buildings to the benefactions of wealthy Vlach merchants.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 4 "Grasshopper" to "Greek Language" 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

How does he deal with the Hellenizing tendencies of his time?

From Studies in the Poetry of Italy, I. Roman by Miller, Frank Justus

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

But with Justinian, who codified the laws in his Corpus juris, the Hellenizing of the legal language also began.

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

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 Lord, John

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