immortalize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to bestow unending fame upon; perpetuate.
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to make immortal; endow with immortality.
verb
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to give everlasting fame to, as by treating in a literary work
Macbeth was immortalized by Shakespeare
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to give immortality to
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biology to cause (cells) to reproduce indefinitely
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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immortalizesimple
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immortalizessimple
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have immortalizedperfect
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has immortalizedperfect
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am immortalizingprogressive
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are immortalizingprogressive
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is immortalizingprogressive
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have been immortalizingperfect progressive
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has been immortalizingperfect progressive
Past
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immortalizedsimple
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had immortalizedperfect
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was immortalizingprogressive
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were immortalizingprogressive
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had been immortalizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of immortalize
Explanation
When you immortalize something, you praise it in a way that's meant to last forever. You could immortalize your favorite pop star, for example, by carving a huge statue of him out of marble. The existence of Disneyland and Disney World has managed to immortalize the image of Mickey Mouse, especially the silhouette of his ears. Through the years, many artists have chosen to immortalize US presidents through public art like the Lincoln Memorial and Mount Rushmore. The verb immortalize comes from the adjective immortal, or "living forever," with its Latin root, immortalis, "deathless or undying."
Vocabulary lists containing immortalize
The Glass Castle
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"Texas v. Johnson, Majority Opinion" by William J. Brennan
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Whirligig
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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.
See Examples For:
"For a melanocyte to transform into cancer, one of the biggest hurdles is to immortalize itself. Once it can do that, it's well on its way to cancer."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 1, 2026
The pharaohs of ancient Egypt built pyramids in the Valley of Kings to immortalize themselves.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2025
The new effort in Seattle emerges as a nationwide push to grapple with and immortalize the legacy and work of the Black Panther Party takes hold.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 14, 2024
Juanita McNeely, an uncompromising painter who used the language of Expressionism to immortalize the sweetest and most brutal moments of her own female experience, died on Oct.
From New York Times ● Nov. 2, 2023
But I gotta immortalize this dreamy look on his face.
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
At Notre Dame: The movie “Rudy” immortalizes a real-life 1975 Notre Dame-Georgia Tech game in which a walk-on football player and a teammate sacked the opposing quarterback, helping the Fighting Irish win 24-3.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
Diltz captures the mischief in Young, immortalizes him as an agent of chaos, the kind of guy who might show up one day with a bush baby on his shoulder.
From New York Times ● Nov. 14, 2023
She also does the character— and Carrie Fisher, who immortalizes Leia as an adult— proud.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2022
Such poignant lyricism, however, isn’t only mined from the everyday tragedies and triumphs of the real people she immortalizes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2021
The graffiti on the walls was marked by Deckers and their friends, sometimes the last piece of themselves the Deckers have left behind, something that immortalizes them.
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
From there, the movie was immortalized in the meme canon with Andy’s Chanel boots and Miranda’s famous cerulean monologue.
From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2026
The astronauts -- who immortalized the famous "Earthrise" photograph taken from lunar orbit -- were credited with having "saved 1968."
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
Acclaimed novelist Larry McMurtry knew, because he grew up in Archer City, Texas, which he immortalized in his 1966 novel “The Last Picture Show,” and where he established his “book town.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2026
In Los Angeles, the department’s airships are an often inescapable part of the city’s landscape, immortalized in both rap songs and Hollywood blockbusters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2026
“He added an angel, with a sword and a lantern, and Billy knew it was his brother, Marcus, who was now immortalized on the ceiling of the theatre...”
From "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick
Although a passionate reader, he was a terrible speller, immortalizing “tea” as “tae” in a 1961 painting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Movie legend Tom Cruise and the player's pop star-turned-fashion designer wife Victoria Beckham will be at the ceremony on June 12 to unveil the plaque immortalizing the British midfielder on Hollywood's most famous thoroughfare.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
The first one immortalizing the Lakers legend was unveiled last month outside Crypto.com Arena and it has three glaring typos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2024
One wrote: “You have to take responsibility for immortalizing an idiot.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 10, 2023
Haas, an archaeologist at the Field Museum of Natural History, in Chicago, had plucked the fabric from the earth minutes before, two graduate students immortalizing the operation with digital cameras.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
