idealize

American  

[ahy-dee-uh-lahyz] / aɪˈdi əˌlaɪz /

especially British, idealise

verb (used with object)

• idealizes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• idealized,
  past participle,  past
• idealizing
  present participle

1. to make ideal; represent in an ideal form or character; exalt to an ideal perfection or excellence.

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verb (used without object)

• idealizes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• idealized,
  past participle,  past
• idealizing
  present participle

1. to represent something in an ideal form.

idealize British  

/ aɪˈdɪəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. to consider or represent (something) as ideal

2. (tr) to portray as ideal; glorify

3. (intr) to form an ideal or ideals

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• idealizer
  noun
• overidealize
  verb
• unidealized
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• idealizing
  present
• idealized
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• idealize
  simple
• idealizes
  simple
• have idealized
  perfect
• has idealized
  perfect
• am idealizing
  progressive
• are idealizing
  progressive
• is idealizing
  progressive
• have been idealizing
  perfect progressive
• has been idealizing
  perfect progressive

Past

• idealized
  simple
• had idealized
  perfect
• was idealizing
  progressive
• were idealizing
  progressive
• had been idealizing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will idealize
  simple
• will have idealized
  perfect
• will be idealizing
  progressive
• will have been idealizing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of idealize

First recorded in 1780–90; ideal + -ize

Explanation

When you idealize something, you think of it as being much better than it really is. You might idealize your beach vacation, completely forgetting that it rained almost every day. If you idealize your favorite teacher, you imagine that he's even more wonderful than he actually is. Many people tend to idealize marriage, believing that simply being married will make them and their partners blissfully happy all the time. To idealize is to take an ordinary, flawed thing, and turn it into something ideal. In fact, ideal, or "perfect," is at the heart of idealize, with its root of the Latin idealis, or "existing in idea."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

idealize idealizes idealized idealizing

It’s easy to idealize the ’60s, but I wonder how it compares to today, in terms of your ability to get things done as an activist?

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2023

A number of Googlers I spoke with framed January’s job cuts—which took place via email—as a wake-up call for Googlers who still idealize their employer.

From Slate ● Feb. 9, 2023

“I am going to speak out against those who praise fascist murderers and idealize extremists. I am going to speak out against Holocaust deniers. I’m going to call those out who won’t do it.”

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 12, 2023

“They idealize a world where the right kinds of people participate,” Perry said.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 18, 2022

Only I can’t seem to keep that up for too long before my natural urge to idealize goes into effect.

From "Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley

Machismo, associated with traditional masculinity, emphasizes dominance and control, while marianismo idealizes women as virtuous and self-sacrificing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2023

Called "splitting," Behr defined this as "the person devalues and idealizes you or others."

From Salon ● Jan. 26, 2023

Like her, he idealizes love, remembering Bronco Henry as part of a bygone generation of “real men” and attributing all his ranching success to his deceased lover.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 25, 2021

We live in a culture that idealizes the idea of love, and the idea that there is one true person who will complete you, fulfill all your dreams and love you forever.

From New York Times ● Oct. 18, 2018

Just as he idealizes Caroline, he paints the Loyers as the perfect mother and daughter.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

We would like to leave no moment uncaptured, would like to at least try to become pearly, hairless, omniscient idealized beings, even if this desire lurks somewhere beneath what we’d consciously admit.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026

The researchers suggest that one reason the idea took more than two decades to demonstrate is that the original theory was developed under idealized conditions that are difficult to reproduce experimentally.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

Worried about its future and often nostalgic for an idealized past, it's fair to say that much of America saw itself in Dolly Parton.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

I’m a late bloomer and worried I’m still missing out on living by being stuck in these idealized fantasies of what love could be.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Vincent has not drawn an idealized woman; he has rendered her the way he sees her.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

This verdict is in keeping with the tenor of the last 50 years of classical scholarship, which has moved past—perhaps too far past—any idealizing visions of Pericles and Athens.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026

She maintains a nuanced sense of humanity’s transgressions and innocence, without demonizing or idealizing either side.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025

“We have a way of idealizing and protecting auteurs and putting them on such a pedestal that they become untouchable,” says Godrèche of French attitudes about cinema.

From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2024

Narcissists will cycle through idealizing their victims and denigrating them in order to condition people to internalize their will and become extensions of themselves.

From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2021

Not a lot, but enough to keep a dreamer from idealizing the object of his long fascination.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Related Words

• glorify