Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To regard or represent as ideal.
- intransitive verb To regard or represent something as ideal.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make ideal; give form to in accordance with any preconceived ideal; embody in an ideal form: as, to
idealize a portrait. - To form ideals.
- Also spelled
idealise .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To form ideals.
- transitive verb To make ideal; to consider as ideal; to give an ideal form or value to; to attribute ideal characteristics and excellences to.
- transitive verb (Fine Arts) To treat in an ideal manner. See
Idealization , 2. - transitive verb to form ideals.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
regard something asideal . - verb intransitive To
conceive orform an ideal.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb consider or render as ideal
- verb form ideals
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The aim of creative art is to idealize, that is, to portray nature and experience in perfect forms not with the imperfections of visible nature.
The Head Voice and Other Problems Practical Talks on Singing 1899
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The artist is said to "idealize" his subject when he represents it as a fairer, nobler, more perfect than it is in reality.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913
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Part of the reason we get disproportionately excited sometimes is because we tend to "idealize" a person in the very beginning.
unknown title 2009
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All too often we, in the West, idealize the 19th century British empire as being some benign club.
Gandhian Nonviolence John Storhm 2009
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All too often we, in the West, idealize the 19th century British empire as being some benign club.
Archive 2009-04-01 John Storhm 2009
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We crave for shows that idealize wealth -- MTV's Cribs or Real Housewives of some wealthy neighborhood in America -- just so that we don't have to think about the struggles of poverty in our country.
Joel John Roberts: Is Homelessness the Seeds of a Future American Uprising? Joel John Roberts 2011
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We crave for shows that idealize wealth -- MTV's Cribs or Real Housewives of some wealthy neighborhood in America -- just so that we don't have to think about the struggles of poverty in our country.
Joel John Roberts: Is Homelessness the Seeds of a Future American Uprising? Joel John Roberts 2011
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Thomas Kelly It's easy to idealize the Sadhus or mythologize them.
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This trope is almost banal: we hate what we idealize -- be it power, fame, wealth -- because what we idealize we know deep down is not worth wanting and so we feel embarrassed and even dirty for wanting it so.
Rabbi Irwin Kula: The Roasting Of Weiner And The Public Good Rabbi Irwin Kula 2011
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This trope is almost banal: we hate what we idealize -- be it power, fame, wealth -- because what we idealize we know deep down is not worth wanting and so we feel embarrassed and even dirty for wanting it so.
Rabbi Irwin Kula: The Roasting Of Weiner And The Public Good Rabbi Irwin Kula 2011
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