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to canonize

to canonize

1 7.4
Declare a story, character, or event part of the official story in a made-up world
  • verb
  • /ˈkænəˌnaɪz/
  • Jargon
translation icon : canonizar
  • The new film was canonized as part of the series' official storyline after much debate among fans.

Examples

  • In the early 1990s, "East Asian dynamism" (Chan 1993) was even canonized by the World Bank (1993).

    Academic text (2002)
  • Many stories are indisputably canonized, even given the (at times) uncomfortable world they force on their readers.

    Academic text (1993)
  • And once we start to find the things that work, we then virtually canonize these beliefs as law.

  • Giving something a hearing is not the same as canonizing it.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • All the same, what makes Perec a force in contemporary writing is quite different from the grounds used to canonize Things.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Lord knows there are enough lists canonizing the standard greats already.

    Blog text (17)
  • Thus, a new understanding of PH's efforts was established and canonized within the completely reconfigured context.

    Academic text (1999)
  • I believe Ruach haKadesh definitely intervened in canonizing the books of the NT.

    Blog text (21)
  • Dominated by scholars rather than by critics, literature programs took a curatorial approach to literary history, building monuments to authors long dead and safely canonized.

    Academic text (2007)
  • His now-canonized trash classic Plan 9 from Outer Space doggedly pursues its cosmic storyline on a decidedly terrestrial budget.

    Blog text (17)

Synonyms

to canonicalize
vsto canonize
  • Formal
9.9

To include a work in an official list of important works

is used only to mark items as official within a fictional universe

How Canonical

to canonize
  • Jargon
1 7.4
to include
1.0
to dismiss
332 3.0

Surface Forms

canonize infinitive
canonized past
canonized past participle
canonizing present participle
canonizes third person singular

Morphology

canonize = canon (transparent) = canon + ize

A clear, productive derivation from 'canon' + '-ize'; here the meaning is a metaphorical extension—making something part of an official set of works—but the morphological relation is straightforward.

Etymology

Canonize is also used for stories and comes from the same idea of canon as an 'official list'. To canonize a character or event is to add it to the story's official list, making it part of the true world of that story.