What does canonising mean?
Canonising means establishing something as part of an accepted body of authoritative works, beliefs, people, or practices. The word often refers to the process by which writers, artists, religious authorities, or cultural institutions determine what deserves to be treated as a lasting standard. Canonising a text may involve preserving it, interpreting it, and placing it within a respected tradition; in religious language, it can refer to formally recognizing a person as a saint. The verb can also mean treating someone or something as a model of excellence. Its connotations are generally dignified and authoritative, though the process may be critical when it raises questions about exclusion, power, and whose achievements are remembered. Canonising is therefore a useful word for discussing not only the creation of cultural standards but also the institutions and judgments behind them.
verbCanonising is the act of treating a work, person, belief, or practice as belonging to an accepted and authoritative canon, or of formally establishing it as a model or standard. In religious contexts, it can mean formally recognizing someone as a saint.
- The act of establishing a work, person, belief, or practice as part of an accepted and authoritative canon.
- The act of regarding or representing something as a model or standard of excellence.
"The scholarly edition is helping to canonise a previously overlooked group of poems as part of the national literary tradition."
"The committee spent years canonising the oral traditions that had previously been excluded from the national archive."
"By promoting these composers, the festival was canonising a tradition of chamber music that had long been neglected."
Canonising gives a work the power of a rule: it helps decide what a culture will remember as authoritative.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of canonising
The word derives from Latin canon, which was borrowed from Greek kánōn, meaning a measuring standard or rule. In English, canon originally referred to an authoritative collection or body of writings, especially the Bible and other ecclesiastical texts. The modern verb developed from that history to mean establishing a work, person, or practice as authoritative, with the related religious sense of formally recognizing someone as a saint.
Related word forms
How canonising is actually used
Canonising is a formal and somewhat literary term. It is most often associated with literary, artistic, cultural, academic, or religious institutions, and the spelling canonising is especially common in British English.
Easily confused with canonising
Canonizing is the usual US spelling of the British form canonising; both words have the same meaning and pronunciation.