idealization

American  

[ahy-dee-uh-luh-zey-shuhn] / aɪˌdi ə ləˈzeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of idealizing something.

2. Psychoanalysis. a mental mechanism, operating consciously or unconsciously, in which one person overestimates an admired attribute of another.

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idealization British  

/ aɪˌdɪəlaɪˈzeɪʃən /

noun

1. the representation of something as ideal

2. a conception of something that dwells on its advantages and ignores its deficiencies

3. a general theoretical account of natural phenomena that ignores features that are difficult to accommodate within a theory

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Etymology

Origin of idealization

First recorded in 1790–1800; idealize + -ation

Example Sentences

Clare, too, receives frequent rhapsodic praise, but even accounting for the narrator’s grief-induced idealization, their relationship strikes me as too perfect.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

As a man who’s always on the right side of history, he manages to embody the idealization of the American spirit while critiquing its difficult reality.

From New York Times • May 24, 2023

Rubens, raising the temperature of the scene, amplifies the idealization by transforming the almost stately frieze into a blockbuster drama of good supplanting evil.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 6, 2021

But no matter: idealization is a privilege, and all the more so compared to invisibility.

From Salon • Oct. 10, 2021

That which appeals to the senses through representation of the human form, without, or with only partial idealization, and to the mind through the indication in expression of high abstract qualities.

From Art Principles With Special Reference to Painting Together with Notes on the Illusions Produced by the Painter by Govett, Ernest