valorize

American  

[val-uh-rahyz] / ˈvæl əˌraɪz /

especially British, valorise

verb (used with object)

valorized, valorizing

1. to provide for the maintaining of the value or price of (a commercial commodity) by a government's purchasing the commodity at the fixed price or by its making special loans to the producers.

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valorize British  

/ ˈvæləˌraɪz /

verb

1. (tr) to fix and maintain an artificial price for (a commodity) by governmental action

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Other Word Forms

• valorization
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of valorize

First recorded in 1905–10; from Late Latin valor “worth” ( see valor) + -ize

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Explanation

To valorize something is to emphasize or enhance its value or importance. Some filmmakers valorize war, making it look noble and exciting on screen. As one who loves to lounge around and take frequent naps, you might feel misunderstood by a culture that valorizes hard work at the expense of rest and relaxation. Economists use the word valorize in a different way, to describe what a government does when it intervenes in a market to fix, increase, or maintain the prices of goods or services or the value of its currency. Valorize comes from the Late Latin valorem, "value or worth," and a root meaning "be strong."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

valorize valorized valorizing

Sander does not romanticize, valorize or flatter them: The even lighting comes from an overcast sky; they are dressed in dark suits and hats, one smokes a cigarette, and each sports a cane.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026

“Monuments are intended to valorize battles and generals,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026

"In general chemistry we learn that carbon dioxide reacts with hydroxide to form carbonate. That's undesired because it depletes the molecule we want to valorize," said Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Molecular Engineering Chibueze Amanchukwu.

From Science Daily ● May 24, 2024

This doesn't valorize Cassian; on the contrary, right after he pulls the trigger, his expression goes blank.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2022

How could the schools valorize men and women whose values society actively scorned?

From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

On top of that, the Nashville music industry was already established, and it valorized the professional songwriter as a key part of a well-oiled machine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

By rooting “Cowboy Carter” in the kind of hand-played sounds the academy has long valorized, Beyoncé almost seems to be daring the organization to withhold the award for a fifth time.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2025

If they learn at all, they don't learn until they're older, so they've already idealized this valorized idea of America in their head and they can't comport the two things.

From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2023

“They may not be valorized as good design, but people’s attitudes will change.”

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 23, 2023

A federal loan of £9,000,000, with 4,535,000 bags of valorized coffee as collateral, was placed in London and New York in May, 1922.

From All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

Institutions must take account of race, for sure, but without valorizing it to an extent that ends up compounding racist stereotyping itself.

From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2024

The company began life in the 1950s building Soviet-designed cars like the Dongfanghong BJ760 sedan, named after a revolutionary anthem — “the east is red” — valorizing Mao Zedong.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 21, 2022

It is interested in shocks and thrills, in valorizing its antihero’s put-upon haplessness, in exploiting potent and crucial protest messages for the lulz.

From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2020

But “Marie, Dancing Still” also can go mawkish, valorizing its flawed characters into heroes and glossing the demimonde grit in an era when everything was not beautiful at the ballet.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 6, 2019

The most compelling solo jazz piano music has a way of blurring the lines, valorizing technical astonishments mainly as a means to an end, while delivering less tangible, more mysterious rewards.

From New York Times ● Jul. 2, 2011

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