verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To make an idol of, or to worship as an idol.
2. 2
   love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol wordnet
3. 3
   To adore excessively; to revere immoderately.

   "idolize a celebrity"

Synonyms

All synonyms

reverehero worshipaccord respect toadmireadoreadulate

Antonyms

All antonyms

deprecatederogatedespiseglorify

Example

More examples

"I don't understand why people idolize criminals."

Etymology

From idol + -ize.

Related phrases

de-idolize

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.