mythologize

verb

my·​thol·​o·​gize mi-ˈthä-lə-ˌjīz How to pronounce mythologize (audio)
mythologized; mythologizing

transitive verb

1
obsolete : to explain the mythological significance of
2
: to build a myth around : mythicize

intransitive verb

1
: to relate, classify, and explain myths
2
: to create or perpetuate myths
mythologizer noun

Examples of mythologize in a Sentence

a politician who has been mythologized by his supporters
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The more Macdonald resists mythologizing or summing up, the more John Lennon and Yoko Ono emerge as fragile, complex individuals on a journey together during uncertain times. Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2025 The predator, long thought extinct and famously mythologized in pop culture like Game of Thrones, is back, thanks to genetic engineering. John W. Dean, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Apr. 2025 Larson mythologized the mid-1990s incarnation of the neighborhood with Rent, the world-conquering rock musical that changed the sound of contemporary musical theater and captured the lives of a clique of artists just as gentrification was moving that world out of lower Manhattan forever. Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2025 In Uberto Pasolini’s The Return, Fiennes plays Odysseus, the ancient Greek king of Ithaca, whose long journey home from the Trojan War was mythologized in Homer’s The Odyssey. Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for mythologize

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French mythologiser, from mythologie mythology + -iser -ize

First Known Use

1603, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of mythologize was in 1603

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Cite this Entry

“Mythologize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mythologize. Accessed 1 May. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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