IDOLIZE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does idolize mean? 

• IDOLIZE (verb)
  The verb IDOLIZE has 1 sense:

1. love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol

  Familiarity information: IDOLIZE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IDOLIZE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they idolize    ... he / she / it idolizes   
Past simple: idolized   
Past participle: idolized   
-ing form: idolizing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

hero-worship; idolise; idolize; revere; worship

Context example:

Many teenagers idolized the Beatles

Hypernyms (to "idolize" is one way to...):

adore (love intensely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "idolize"):

drool over; slobber over (envy without restraint)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot idolize Sue

Derivation:

idol (a material effigy that is worshipped)

idol (an ideal instance; a perfect embodiment of a concept)

idol (someone who is adored blindly and excessively)

idolization (the act of worshiping blindly and to excess)

idolization (the act of admiring strongly)

idolizer (a lover blind with admiration and devotion)

 Context examples 

I told her that I idolized and worshipped her.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I hardly know how it has happened; a little, perhaps, from that wickedness on my side which was prone to take disgust towards a girl so idolized and so cried up as she always was, by her aunt and grandmother, and all their set.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The same books, the same passages were idolized by each—or if any difference appeared, any objection arose, it lasted no longer than till the force of her arguments and the brightness of her eyes could be displayed.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)