to villainize
2
6.9
- verb
- /ˈvɪləˌnaɪz/
- US
:
demonizar
- It's unfair to villainize someone for their mistakes without understanding the circumstances.
- villainizes and demonizes
- villainize people
But Donald Trump does this because it's very easy to villainize the Fed.
- But Donald Trump does this because it's very easy to villainize the Fed.
- But other people were like straight up villainizing the fact that my guide dog mostly sits in the wheel well.
- But first, outside of President Trump, few were villainized by the press more than his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
- And you know, meat for many years in the past was villainized and we heard that it's, you know, meat is bad for your health and especially red meat.
- And we don't have to villainize Snickers if we want to, if we want to dabble in that.
Examples
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It makes my blood boil how it is okay to villainize certain groups, but Westerners behave like they are clean.
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I don't want to villainize parents who made the choice in the past—circumcision was the standard!
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I would not villainize him for that.
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But Donald Trump does this because it's very easy to villainize the Fed.
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The solution is not to villainize parents because they need our support just as much as their sons or daughters.
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These same people villainized Bush as a liar and war criminal.
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I feel like people who say "I prefer print" are villainized, and I don't understand why.
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I understand the effort to bring awareness to the actual situation and work against bigotry, but villainizing people who are not the bigots is not wise.
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I am a teacher in favor of getting rid of bad teachers. I know they exist, and I am a pretty good teacher (in my estimation) and not worried about losing my job, but for teachers to be villainized as some have chosen to do on this post and others seems unfair and extremely frustrating.
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My opinion is that if the Obama administration extends the tax cuts, then: 1) they obviously find value in the tax cuts (so it will be interesting to watch those who villainized Bush for his tax cuts try to explain why suddenly it's the smart thing to do); and 2) they assume ownership of the cuts from that point on.
Blog text (16)
Synonyms
77
7.1
Make a person, group, or thing seem evil and dangerous, often unfairly
48
7.8
To say bad things about someone without a good reason to make them seem less important
43
7.9
To say or write bad things about someone to harm them
33
7.7
To say harmful or false things about someone to hurt them
To make a person or group seem very evil
To show someone as very evil in stories or reports
Antonyms
How Negatively
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Villainize starts with villain, which comes from the old word villanus meaning 'person of the villa' or a farm worker and later came to mean 'bad person'. The ending -ize means 'to make', so to villainize someone is to 'make them look like the bad person'.