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

I know “quiet” is loaded — a synonym for normalcy, or what we idealize as normal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 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

Hornby is best known for “High Fidelity,” a peerless portrait of how a certain type of young man uses pop music to both idealize women, and carefully cultivate an emotional distance from them.

From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2023

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

From Washington Post ● Mar. 18, 2022

Many, including Enrique, begin to idealize their mothers.

From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario

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

From Salon ● Jan. 26, 2023

Nora idealizes Edmund’s “perfect” life — attending an elite school, working at high-paying tech jobs, living away from home — without realizing that he’s as unhappy as she is.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2021

Because he was the only straight, cis man I ever dated, she idealizes him.

From Slate ● Jan. 7, 2021

Unlike the critic George Saintsbury, who looked to 18th-century literature for “repose and refreshment,” Damrosch never idealizes or whitewashes.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 17, 2019

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

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

The concept is illustrated by the Carnot cycle, an idealized model that defines the maximum theoretical efficiency of a heat engine by carefully regulating the movement of heat between hot and cold regions.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026

But “Do the Right Thing” remains with us, its urgency and relevance undiminished, waiting for an America open to listen and live up to its idealized aspirations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Inside these irregular geometric shapes, delicately painted images depict happy black families in idealized scenes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

It was not the path that Reggie had once idealized, but it was a clear direction and one he was undertaking with typical, quiet resolve.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

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

Amélie grows up convinced she is Japanese and idealizing her family’s temporary host country.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025

Yes — but I don’t think I’m idealizing the past by suggesting that there used to be more restraint, more opprobrium associated with selling out too obviously.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 21, 2022

By stigmatizing high art and idealizing popular taste, they claim to be striking a blow for true democracy — and not just pandering, as advertisers, politicians and the media do as a matter of course.

From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2021

Also, Theo thinks, Vincent is too focused on Mauve and is idealizing him, as he is wont to do with people.

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

Related Words

• glorify