lionize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to treat (a person) as a celebrity.
to lionize the visiting poet.
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British. to visit or exhibit the objects of interest of (a place).
verb (used without object)
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to pursue celebrities or seek their company.
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British. to visit the objects of interest of a place.
verb
Other Word Forms
- lionization noun
- lionized adjective
- lionizer noun
- unlionized adjective
Etymology
Origin of lionize
First recorded in 1800–10; lion + -ize ( def. )
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.
Los Angeles educators were also directed to immediately shift from lionizing Chávez to honoring instead the farmworkers’ movement.
From Los Angeles Times
In his first days at home, Elisha found himself lionized in the papers as an American superhero, and in a serious fight with his family.
From Literature
MacArthur Park is L.A.’s Gloria Swanson — a place long lionized as a former jewel supposedly ruined by waves of newcomers and apathetic politicians.
From Los Angeles Times
Decades of lionizing men like Nile Jarvis have made his detestable personality not just easy to spot, but queasily appealing.
From 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.
From Salon
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.
