idealize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
-
to consider or represent (something) as ideal
-
(tr) to portray as ideal; glorify
-
(intr) to form an ideal or ideals
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of idealize
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."
Vocabulary lists containing idealize
When Fake is Real: Young People Rebel Against Instagram, Via Instagram
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"A Village After Dark" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Life As We Knew It
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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.
Historian Quinn Slobodian joins Felix Salmon to discuss the tech billionaires who idealize a world without democracy.
From Slate • Feb. 4, 2025
“What’s important is to not make a myth or idealize anyone, including our founder. If we made a myth out of him, we were wrong,” she said.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 28, 2023
“I think that a lot of people almost idealize our jobs,” said Kim Yutani, director of programming for the Sundance Film Festival.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 20, 2023
The San Antonio artist doesn’t idealize her family background, however.
From Washington Post • Dec. 15, 2022
Not much to idealize when you know your aunt is crying herself to sleep next door and nothing can be done.
From "Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
