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idealize

[ahy-dee-uh-lahyz]

verb (used with object)

to make ideal; represent in an ideal form or character; exalt to an ideal perfection or excellence.

verb (used without object)

to represent something in an ideal form.

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to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

to run away hurriedly; flee.

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Also, especially British, i·de·al·ise.

Origin:
1780–90; ideal + -ize

Related forms

i·de·al·iz·er, noun

o·ver·i·de·al·ize, verb, -ized, -iz·ing.

un·i·de·al·ized, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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World English Dictionary

idealize or idealise (aɪˈdɪəˌlaɪz)

—vb
1.	to consider or represent (something) as ideal
2.	(tr) to portray as ideal; glorify
3.	(intr) to form an ideal or ideals

idealise or idealise

—vb

i'dealizer or idealise

—n

i'dealiser or idealise

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Related Words

character defense ideality

idealization transcendentalize

Matching Quote

"A project is the subjective germ of a developing object. A perfect project should simultaneously be entirely subjective and entirely objective—an indivisible and living individual. As to its origin, it should be entirely subjective, original, and possible only in the mind; as to its character, entirely objective, physical, and morally necessary. The sense for projects—which could be called aphorisms of the future—differs from the sense for the aphorisms of the past only in direction, progressive in the former and regressive in the latter. The essential thing is the ability to idealize and realize matters immediately and simultaneously, to complete them and carry them out partly within oneself. Since the word transcendental refers precisely to the unification and separation of the ideal and the real, one could easily say that the sense for aphorisms and projects is the transcendental part of the historical spirit."

-Friedrich Von Schlegel