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

This is a young man’s idealization of a dying old man glorifying his final breaths.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2023

Whether it’s because they harmonize adoring idealization with the shapes and textures of real women or because of Modigliani’s almost uncanny ability to evoke actual sensation, I can’t say.

From Washington Post • Dec. 29, 2022

“There was an idealization and simplification of the problem that started in the economics literature,” said Robert Kopp, a climate scientist at Rutgers University.

From New York Times • Aug. 25, 2022

And he must now be careful not to give the lie to the idealization of himself created partly by him and partly by the activity of logic.

From Gargoyles by Hecht, Ben