to lionize
- verb
- /ˈlaɪəˌnaɪz/
- Literature
- But I think we have to be a little bit careful, maybe more careful than one tends to be in a boom time, not to blindly lionize the people who seem to be winning.
They, they, they didn't want to lionize bravery and courage in that way.
- They, they, they didn't want to lionize bravery and courage in that way.
- But after his death, he too was lionized and his house is now a museum.
- This is the new person being lionized as a champion of trans rights.
- Why do we continue to lionize geniuses such as Edison, Hemingway, and Jobs?
- The the fact that we so lionize our athletes and they are paid such astronomical sums.
- That's sort of like if you could just summon the gumption to stand against what is happening right now, you would be celebrated and lionized for that.
- I mean, this town is just if you go out at night, no, but if you ever went to like a hotspot, first of all, they would, they would lionize you.
- What I'm saying is, what I'm saying is we shouldn't lionize a person who tells douchey jokes on Twitter and say that's sacrosanct and you shouldn't criticize it.
Examples
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But after his death, he too was lionized and his house is now a museum.
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Why do we continue to lionize geniuses such as Edison, Hemingway, and Jobs?
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And we're the clever ones who are going to be lionized for seeing what's obvious.
Fiction book (1994) -
But let's talk about someone who is lionized by many people and perhaps unrightly so.
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Whereas Robert Byrd was lionized as a great man of the Senate.
Blog text (5) -
Fletcher saw recent evidence of Romantic resurgence in the growing popularity of artifacts that lionize our past warriors.
Academic text (2008) -
Which is why I think one of the dangers in a place like Silicon Valley is you see these exceptional successes lionized on magazine covers.
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And you see that in particular with the lionizing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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On the floor of Congress, lawmakers lionized Penn State's Joe Paterno.
Blog text (24) -
The community decided to lionize the local hero for his bravery during the disaster.
Synonyms
To praise someone in public for something they did
To make a person or thing seem better and more important than they really are
Admire someone very much, often ignoring their faults
To make an idea, activity, or subject known and liked by many people
To show that something has value, often by giving public support
To make someone seem like a god or without faults
To admire someone too much and ignore their faults
To make someone seem very brave and admired
To make a person or thing seem famous and admired by many
To make something well known by giving it a lot of media attention
Antonyms
How Celebrated
- US
- Literature
- Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Lionize comes from the animal lion, which people see as powerful and famous. To lionize someone is to give them special attention and praise, so it means 'to treat someone as a celebrity'.