lionize

especially British, li·on·ise

[lahy-uh-nahyz]

verb (used with object)

lionized, lionizing 

1. to treat (a person) as a celebrity.

   to lionize the visiting poet.

2. British.,  to visit or exhibit the objects of interest of (a place).

verb (used without object)

lionized, lionizing 

1. to pursue celebrities or seek their company.

2. British.,  to visit the objects of interest of a place.

lionize

/ ˈlaɪəˌnaɪz /

verb

1. (tr) to treat as or make into a celebrity

Other Word Forms

• lionization noun
• lionizer noun
• lionized adjective
• unlionized adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of lionize¹

First recorded in 1800–10; lion + -ize ( def. )

Example Sentences

Decades of lionizing men like Nile Jarvis have made his detestable personality not just easy to spot, but queasily appealing.

Read more on Salon

Wakanda is mythical, but it lacks the problematic history rewrite required to make the forthcoming Viola Davis-starring “The Woman King” and its lionizing of a kingdom built on the slave trade palatable.

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Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, murdered by the SS before he could be freed by Allied troops, is lionized in American churches, and his letters from prison became standard reading in Bible studies.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Argentine poor whom Eva Perón lionized as the country’s heart and soul largely stayed home in a stinging rebuke to the Peronist movement that has dominated politics here for 80 years.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

As conservatives lionize Kirk as a warrior for free expression, they’re also weaponizing the tactics they saw being used to malign their movement — calls for firings, ostracism, pressure to watch what you say.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• eulogize 
• glorify 
• idolize