What does idealizing mean?
Idealizing means treating a person, place, period, or possibility as better, more attractive, or more perfect than it actually is. The word is often used critically: to say that a film or biography idealizes its subject is to suggest that it presents an unusually flattering or simplified picture. It can also describe imagining something in its ideal form, as when people idealize a career, relationship, or future. In these uses, idealizing need not be intentionally misleading; it may simply mean constructing a model of how something could be better. The word is related to the noun ideal and the philosophical idea of idealism. Overall, idealizing highlights both the appeal and the limitation of seeing things as they might be rather than as they are.
verbTo regard or represent someone or something as perfect or better than it really is. It can also mean to imagine something in its ideal or most desirable form.
- To represent or think of someone or something as perfect or better than reality.
- To imagine something in an idealized or ideal form.
"The novel tends to idealize the rural life of its protagonist's childhood."
"The documentary was criticized for idealizing its subject and ignoring the contradictions in his career."
"We idealize the future before we have to make the difficult practical choices involved in reaching it."
Idealizing captures the human tendency to turn memory, love, or admiration into a flawless picture.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does idealizing come from?
The verb derives from the adjective ideal together with the suffix -ize, meaning “to make into” or “to treat as.” The adjective ideal comes through French from Latin idealis, ultimately from Greek eidos, associated with form or appearance. Related English words include ideal, idealism, idealist, and ideality.
Related word forms
How idealizing is actually used
The present participle is common in formal and critical prose. It can suggest deliberate idealization, but it often also implies an excessive or unrealistic positive portrayal.