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
Etymology
Origin of lionize
First recorded in 1800–10; lion + -ize ( def. )
Explanation
The lion is often portrayed as the noble king of beasts. As such, to lionize someone is to characterize them as being highly important and distinguished, like a great and honorable leader. In literature and art, the lion is often used as a symbol of pride, strength, courage, and nobility. So when you lionize someone, you attribute to them all those impressive traits. Sports stars and political leaders are often lionized by their supporters. Some people are uncomfortable with being lionized. After rescuing a puppy from a frozen pond, the local teenager who did the good deed might resist people's efforts to lionize him, saying, "I'm no hero! I only did what anybody else would do!"
Vocabulary lists containing lionize
100 SAT Words Beginning with "J," "K," and "L"
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "K" "L""M" and "N" and "O"
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The Picture of Dorian Gray
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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:
It's nice for people to support you, don't get me wrong, but we can't lionize people being in prison.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2024
There’s also a whole bit in the courtroom of David swatting at a fly as his attorney attempts to lionize him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2024
Teams are insular, us-against-the-world micro-communities, and American culture tends to lionize those who close off the rest of the world, ignore criticism and win anyway.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 12, 2023
Glew himself, importantly, is never the target of the joke: the movie has too much affection for its subject to ridicule his eccentricities, even gently, preferring to lionize him instead.
From New York Times ● Oct. 20, 2022
I wonder what there is, new and strange, that you wouldn't lionize, as you call it.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. V, October, 1850, Volume I. by
As Greenspan left office in 2005, Greenspan was lionized as the “maestro,” or the greatest central banker of the century.
From MarketWatch ● May 10, 2026
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.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
Teachers may be lionized by Hollywood, but in practice they’re underpaid, overworked and disrespected.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2024
But after the committee’s televised hearings were over, he was famous, demonized by some for the harshness of his attacks on Nixon but lionized as a hero by others.
From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2023
Outstanding oarsmen were lionized in the national press, even in the era of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Things get messy when we start lionizing anyone, perhaps especially young men who were just good at playing a child’s game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2024
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 ● Aug. 20, 2022
At the same time, the N.F.L. carefully tapped into the American fascination with organizational genius, lionizing the figure of the coach.
From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2019
And as evangelicalism became a cultural force, it marked its difference from the wider culture by lionizing the family.
From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2019
We are fond, it is true, of temporarily lionizing great people, but we soon reduce them to our own level.
From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No. 2, August, 1862 Devoted to Literature and National Policy by Various
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.
