idealization
Americannoun
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the act or process of idealizing something.
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Psychoanalysis. a mental mechanism, operating consciously or unconsciously, in which one person overestimates an admired attribute of another.
noun
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the representation of something as ideal
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a conception of something that dwells on its advantages and ignores its deficiencies
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a general theoretical account of natural phenomena that ignores features that are difficult to accommodate within a theory
Etymology
Origin of idealization
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.
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
Their cultish idealization of him is an addictive drug.
From Salon • Mar. 26, 2024
This is a young man’s idealization of a dying old man glorifying his final breaths.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2023
“There was an idealization and simplification of the problem that started in the economics literature,” Dr. Kopp said.
From New York Times • Aug. 25, 2022
Its family spirit and idealization of common objects and joys make it a classic which reaches the hearts of boys and girls.
From Special Method in the Reading of Complete English Classics In the Grades of the Common School by McMurry, Charles A. (Charles Alexander)
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.
