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

See Examples For:

idealization

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

Waldstreicher, who teaches at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, is known for deeply researched, tightly written studies, which aim to complicate any comforting idealization of the founding.

From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 2023

However, linguists often point out that the concept of a standard accent is better understood as an idealization rather than a reality.

From Salon ● Jan. 7, 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

The point lies exactly in the fusion of two elements—in the truth of the passion, the truth of the idealization, and the spontaneity of the artistic form combining them.

From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by Symonds, John Addington