spiritualize

verb

Definition of spiritualizenext
as in to sanctify

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of spiritualize None of this is intended to take away from the ambivalent and sometimes plainly harmful effects of attempts to spiritualize the pandemic. — Benjamin Kirby, Quartz Africa, 1 May 2020 Thought and speech — thought’s public projection — are both combined and spiritualized. — Brian T. Allen, National Review, 22 June 2019 The biblical Song of Solomon is a key scripture for the Zohar, and its lush gardens of desire are spiritualized into realms of sacred love, but without losing anything of their erotic passion. — Arthur Green, The Atlantic, 25 Aug. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spiritualize
  1. sanctify
  2. baptize
  3. consecrate
  4. sacralize
  5. purify
  6. cleanse
  7. canonize
  8. hallow
Verb
  • To say that the Union was sacred and the touchstone of democracy was to strengthen slavery by sanctifying the state that protected it.
    — Dominic Erdozain, Time, 3 July 2026
  • The cruelest dimension of this is that a Christianity hijacked by the evangelical right now seeks to sanctify that mythology in the name of God.
    — Otis Moss III, Chicago Tribune, 28 June 2026
Definition of sanctify
Verb
  • Evan Bland said his wife insisted that everyone in the home needed to be baptized in the bathtub.
    — Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 15 July 2026
  • Lauren Collins, now a journalist at The New Yorker magazine, grew up in this church, and was baptized here.
    — Lee Cowan, CBS News, 12 July 2026
Definition of baptize
Verb
  • The Vatican declared the group of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide in schism after the SSPX consecrated four bishops in Switzerland without Pope Leo XIV’s approval this month.
    — Nora O'Neill, Charlotte Observer, 15 July 2026
  • On July 2, the Vatican decreed the excommunication of the SSPX’s bishops and priests, one day after the group consecrated four new bishops in Switzerland without the pope’s consent.
    — Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 13 July 2026
Definition of consecrate
Verb
  • The coronation merely confirms and sacralizes his inheritance.
    — Matt Ford, The New Republic, 5 May 2023
Definition of sacralize
Verb
  • Normal strategy in disaster situations is boiling water to purify it but this uses valuable fuel resources.
    — Simon Heptinstall, New Atlas, 9 July 2026
  • Next, the raw material is handed over to Talga Group, a specialist firm that purifies the recycled feedstock into pristine, battery-grade graphite.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 7 July 2026
Definition of purify
Verb
  • What lies before us is not a world cleansed of fraud, but a world in which the speed of both deception and defense keeps rising, so that the responsibility shared between institutions and individuals grows more important.
    — Dennis-Kenji Kipker, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
  • The animals were killed for their hides and their tongues, a culinary delicacy, but also as part of the campaign to ethnically cleanse Native Americans from the land.
    — Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 20 July 2026
Definition of cleanse
Verb
  • This is the Tricky sound canonized.
    — Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 25 June 2026
  • After her death she was canonized by the Catholic Church and recognized as the patron saint of immigrants.
    — Alex Knapp, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
Definition of canonize
Verb
  • Yet, these grounds were hallowed to the African American community.
    — Chip Colwell, The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2025
  • In a new political environment in which none of the new leaders could claim to be revolutionary founding fathers, Deng’s blessing hallowed Jiang and Hu and helped ensure that each survived the vicissitudes of succession politics.
    — Jonathan A. Czin, Foreign Affairs, 21 Oct. 2025
Definition of hallow

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spirituality
spiritualize
spiritualized
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Cite this Entry

“Spiritualize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spiritualize. Accessed 24 Jul. 2026.

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