as in to honor
to treat (someone) as a very important and famous person
She was lionized everywhere after her novel won the Pulitzer Prize.
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Recent Examples of lionize
She’s been lionized, condemned (even sometimes by the left), mocked, dismissed, revered, and occasionally rediscovered.
—
David Browne, Rolling Stone, 11 June 2025
His life wasn’t cut short like the lives of Jimi Hendrix or John Lennon, which was great, but also meant that he wasn’t lionized as a brilliant comet gone too soon.
—Ben Greenman, Pitchfork, 10 June 2025
Advertisement Advertisement The problem is this story lionizes an industrial past with little basis in reality.
— Made By History, Time, 21 Apr. 2025
Editors’ Picks 36 Hours in Banff Among those stories of staging in French kitchens and global travel, there are chefs who believe in language that spoofs their craft, rather than lionizing it.
—Sam Corbin, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lionize
David Browne, Rolling Stone, 11 June 2025
His life wasn’t cut short like the lives of Jimi Hendrix or John Lennon, which was great, but also meant that he wasn’t lionized as a brilliant comet gone too soon.
—Ben Greenman, Pitchfork, 10 June 2025
Advertisement Advertisement The problem is this story lionizes an industrial past with little basis in reality.
— Made By History, Time, 21 Apr. 2025
Editors’ Picks 36 Hours in Banff Among those stories of staging in French kitchens and global travel, there are chefs who believe in language that spoofs their craft, rather than lionizing it.
—Sam Corbin, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lionize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lionize
Verb
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Beyond honoring Akil’s contributions, the evening sets the stage for the Hollywood Confidential College Tour launching later this fall.—
Okla Jones,
Essence,
13 Sep. 2025
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Our first responsibility is to honor our commitments and wind down in a way that minimizes harm from the rescission.—
Michael Schneider,
Variety,
12 Sep. 2025
Verb
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One of Lynne’s favorite stories is how their grandson took to admiring cars when their daughter’s family came to live with them during the pandemic.—
Karen Billing,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 Sep. 2025
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Both were viewed by the fashion industry as the types to admire and follow.—
Stephanie Nolasco,
FOXNews.com,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
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That’s an understandable perspective, but where the morals of the interview get so twisted is how much weight Thug gives to being a millionaire and why that’s a big reason he should not just be respected but revered.—
Alphonse Pierre,
Pitchfork,
11 Sep. 2025
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The Victorians had turned death into something of a pageant, something to be celebrated as much as revered; for the large part, death followed illness and was often witnessed by surviving family members.—
Alice Vernon
September 8,
Literary Hub,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Advertisement Trump’s insistence on honoring these Confederates implicitly venerates their politics — and provides a justification for his own rule and ruin tactics, which so often echo them.—
Time,
Time,
5 Sep. 2025
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The site is retired from active worship but still venerated.—
Jack Tydeman,
Travel + Leisure,
1 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Summer is usually the time of long days and longer vacations, but summer 2025 was a season where the business world’s inviolable godhead, the chief executive officer, looked less and less like a position worth exalting.—
Ian Chaffee,
Fortune,
5 Sep. 2025
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While knowledge has been exalted by artists, poets, philosophers and scientists, dictatorships have been opposed not only by great humanists but also by science itself.—
Davide Sartini,
Forbes.com,
15 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Yet last week’s warning from Jet2, a business respected for its cost control and excellent customer service, has served as a reminder that, for all the impressive growth of recent years, this remains a volatile and sometimes unpredictable sector.—
Ian King,
CNBC,
10 Sep. 2025
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Standing independently would be an Excelsior building that respected the architecture of the original 1940s building.—
Catherine Muccigrosso,
Charlotte Observer,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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One fellow-freestyler praised her ingenuity but said that, in a creative category with many strong contenders, her victory was a bit disappointing.—
Sarah Larson,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
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Reviewers praise its atmospheric setting and rich world-building, but some criticised its punishing difficulty.—
Griff Griffin,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Balenciaga, Dior, Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent were respected and worshipped.—
James Fallon,
Footwear News,
10 Sep. 2025
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On Queen West stands a cathedral to gastronomy, complete with maple wood arched ceiling and steaks worth worshipping.—
Kate Dingwall,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Lionize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lionize. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
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