immortalize
Americanverb (used with object)
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immortalizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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immortalized,
past participle, past
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immortalizing
present participle
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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
That’s the one thing I love about this book is that I can immortalize some of my personal heroes and places that I hold dear to my heart.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026
The pharaohs of ancient Egypt built pyramids in the Valley of Kings to immortalize themselves.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2025
She was 8 when the family moved to the riverside farm Aldo Leopold would immortalize in “A Sand County Almanac.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2024
Today it’s possible for scientists to immortalize cells by exposing them to certain viruses or chemicals, but very few cells have become immortal on their own as Henrietta’s did.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
The picture immortalizes seasonality, a two-dimensional vision of eternal harmony.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 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
It immortalizes himself and the artist Toxic with Rammellzee, who is wearing wraparound mirror shades like the Terminator.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2022
She also does the character— and Carrie Fisher, who immortalizes Leia as an adult— proud.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2022
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
In contrast, Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern was immortalized on the big screen in 2011 by way of a laughable debacle that’s considered one of the worst career decisions Ryan Reynolds ever made.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
It was immortalized by the composer Johann Strauss II as “The Blue Danube,” but the views from today’s cruise-ship windows are heavy on the grey-brown hues of dried-up riverbeds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 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
One un-fortunate artist whom Howard sent to paint Seabiscuit’s portrait never learned that the horse he immortalized was actually Grog.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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
In immortalizing it in stone forever, there was an acceptance that once she stepped into this new role, there was no going back to what was.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2024
Here is a fine time to confess that when Cupo slung his arm around my shoulders, jazzed to play his part in immortalizing this moment, I had no idea who he was.
From Salon ● Dec. 23, 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.
