memorialize
Americanverb
-
to honour or commemorate
-
to present or address a memorial to
Other Word Forms
- memorialization noun
- memorializer noun
- unmemorialized adjective
Etymology
Origin of memorialize
Explanation
When you memorialize something, you honor it or do something so it will be remembered. If you want to remember a summer trip taken with friends, you could make a photo album full of the pictures you took to memorialize it. The word memorialize often is used in relation to someone or something that has passed away or even to a group of connected individuals who have perished. You might see a monument, for example, that memorializes victims of an earthquake, meaning pays tribute to them. You can also memorialize someone in a speech, meaning you tell about the person's life and describe how he or she has affected others.
Vocabulary lists containing memorialize
Total Recall: Mem
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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2014 Vocabulary Video Contest (M-Z)
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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.
In the belly of a whale at a jazz venue in Little Tokyo, early 2014, I gathered with Fred Moten, Kima Jones and others to memorialize Amiri Baraka a week or so after his death.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 28, 2026
Every year, Amicus co-hosts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern invite listeners to nominate the Supreme Court’s most egregious behavior, then choose their own “worst of the worst” to memorialize the most ignominious moments.
From Slate • Jan. 3, 2026
The intent is to memorialize it, not to filter it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 11, 2025
As we memorialize Brian Wilson’s death on Wednesday at age 82, it is difficult to comprehend the vast extent of his musical legacy.
From Salon • Jun. 12, 2025
Since the day she died, I’ve felt that Lucy was only mine to memorialize and that if I faltered, I’d be letting her down in the worst kind of way.
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
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.
