glamorize

or glam·our·ize

[ glam-uh-rahyz ]

verb (used with object)

, glam·or·ized, glam·or·iz·ing.

1. to make glamorous.
2. to glorify or romanticize:

   an adventure film that tended to glamorize war.

glamorize

/ ˈɡlæməˌraɪz /

verb

1. tr to cause to be or seem glamorous; romanticize or beautify

Derived Forms

• ˌglamoriˈzation, noun
• ˈglamorˌizer, noun

Other Words From

• glamor·i·zation noun
• glamor·izer noun
• over·glamor·ize verb (used with object) overglamorized overglamorizing
• over·glamour·ize verb (used with object) overglamourized overglamourizing
• un·glamor·ized adjective
• un·glamour·ized adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of glamorize¹

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40; glamor ( def ) + -ize

Example Sentences

The case stems from a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles alleging that the unit was run by a “SWAT Mafia” of influential veteran cops who “glamorize the use of lethal force.”

From Los Angeles Times

Our blood-engorged media — video games, music, the big and small screens — don’t just normalize violence but glamorize and celebrate it.

From Los Angeles Times

“Guns were so glamorized. It was probably my biggest obsession ... dreaming about guns, drawing pictures of them,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times

But Bernstein’s rise, recently glamorized in the Oscar-nominated “Maestro,” showed that conductors from the United States could compete with their finest counterparts across the Atlantic.

From New York Times

“He won’t play in a drama that glamorizes evil or glorifies violence. ‘I’m no nut on that,’ he says, ‘my pictures don’t have to carry a message — but they do have to say something.’

From New York Times

Related Words

• adorn
• bedeck
• decorate