Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To look on or treat (a person) as a celebrity.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To treat as a lion, or as an object of curiosity and interest. See
lion , n., 6. - To exhibit objects of curiosity to.
- To visit or explore as a sight-seer: as, to
lionize Niagara. - To visit the lions or objects of interest or curiosity in a place. Also spelled
lionise .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To treat or regard as a lion or object of great interest.
- transitive verb To show the lions or objects of interest to; to conduct about among objects of interest.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To treat (a person) as if he were
important , or acelebrity . - verb transitive To
visit famous places in order torevere them. - verb intransitive To
behave as alion .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb assign great social importance to
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The verb "lionize" "to treat as a celebrity" suggests the idea that lions are deserving of attention, perhaps very fitting for the King of the Jungle.
another meaning for PR mj 2009
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There was either a desire to say that it was my fault, that if I had just not behaved so badly everything would have been fine, or there was a desire to kind of lionize me as some kind of hero figure.
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It would still have been a mistake to lionize Witt for choosing only the rite of passage, football, over its intended outcome, the civic leadership cherished by Cecil Rhodes and, once upon a time, by Yale.
Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012
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They criticize King Saul heavily, lionize David, praise Solomon and deplore the division of the country into northern and southern kingdoms.
Douglas Knight: Biblical Israel's History Viewed From Inside And Out Douglas Knight 2011
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It would still have been a mistake to lionize Witt for choosing only the rite of passage, football, over its intended outcome, the civic leadership cherished by Cecil Rhodes and, once upon a time, by Yale.
Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012
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It would still have been a mistake to lionize Witt for choosing only the rite of passage, football, over its intended outcome, the civic leadership cherished by Cecil Rhodes and, once upon a time, by Yale.
Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012
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They criticize King Saul heavily, lionize David, praise Solomon and deplore the division of the country into northern and southern kingdoms.
Douglas Knight: Biblical Israel's History Viewed From Inside And Out Douglas Knight 2011
-
It would still have been a mistake to lionize Witt for choosing only the rite of passage, football, over its intended outcome, the civic leadership cherished by Cecil Rhodes and, once upon a time, by Yale.
Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012
-
It would still have been a mistake to lionize Witt for choosing only the rite of passage, football, over its intended outcome, the civic leadership cherished by Cecil Rhodes and, once upon a time, by Yale.
Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012
-
It would still have been a mistake to lionize Witt for choosing only the rite of passage, football, over its intended outcome, the civic leadership cherished by Cecil Rhodes and, once upon a time, by Yale.
Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012
sweetzingiber commented on the word lionize
to treat as a celebrity
August 1, 2009
jwjarvis commented on the word lionize
the right lionizes Ronald Reagan, the left lionizes FDR
September 24, 2010
Gammerstang commented on the word lionize
(verb) - To treat and exhibit as an object of interest. Originally to take visitors to see the lions formerly kept at the Tower of London. Hence lion-hunter, one given to lionizing people, popularized by Dickens in Mr. and Mrs. Leo Hunter in Pickwick Papers. --Albert Hyamson's Dictionary of English Phrases, 1922
February 11, 2018
hammerstein commented on the word lionize
My understanding of lionize is, for example, when you take over a conversation, or hog a conversation, you are lionizing the conversation. I have always associated the word with attention hogs with no manners. I also associate it with ‘taking the LION’s share of something.
December 12, 2021
bilby commented on the word lionize
That's not the general understanding.
December 12, 2021
sionnach commented on the word lionize
Bilby is correct.
Bilby is (almost) always correct.
Hi, oh big-eared one!
December 16, 2021