as in idolizes
to represent or think of as better than reality would warrant
he had a tendency to idealize his heroes and believe they could do no wrong
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Recent Examples of idealizes
Gen Z, in particular, has moved away from the hustle-and-grind culture of the 2000s and early 2010s and instead idealizes wellness, leisure and affluence without overt labor.
—
Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for idealizes
Verb
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With her crude French and slightly out-of-place mannerisms, Patricia is the young, beautiful American expatriate drawn to this wannabe gangster who idolizes Humphrey Bogart and yet seems so quintessentially French.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
4 Dec. 2025
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The action then jumps seventeen years into the future, where Morgan and Chris’s daughter, Clara (Mckenna Grace), is now a teen-ager who resents her mom’s protectiveness and idolizes her freewheeling aunt.—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Stamos quickly romanticizes the soldier’s isolation—his freedom from social expectations—and begins to dream of defecting.—
Rachel Vorona Cote,
The Atlantic,
5 Jan. 2026
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As Bella and Edward become closer, our young heroine not only romanticizes the vampire's ethereal good looks, but also the dominance and constant surveillance of his courtship.—
USA Today,
USA Today,
10 Oct. 2025
Verb
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There has been much discussion about whether the genre glamorizes or interrogates female pain, or a little of both, or whether books by and about women with feelings that are important enough to be written about needs a label at all.—
Lizz Schumer,
PEOPLE,
22 Dec. 2025
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Social media often glamorizes pregnancy, but Llamas didn’t want to shy away from the complications.—
Alyce Collins,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Rain that gets through cracks in the pavement softens the soil beneath, causing more deformation under traffic loading and leading to more cracking, according to Jonathan Stewart, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.—
Alex Wigglesworth,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Jan. 2026
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Straddling formalwear codes and casualwear, Jang softens traditional silhouettes via unexpected fabric pairings, texture contrast, and use of hybrid materials.—
Sandra Salibian,
Footwear News,
13 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Idealizes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/idealizes. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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