heroicize

H4E1R1O1I1C3I1Z10E1

verb

To make or depict as heroic.

Scrabble 23
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Meanings

verbheroicize (third-person singular simple present heroicizes, present participle heroicizing, simple past and past participle heroicized)

present singular third person heroicizes · participle present heroicizing · participle past heroicized · past heroicized

  1. transitiveTo make or depict as heroic.

    A strong tendency to heroicize death prevailed in the nihilism of the Third Reich.

    2007, Heinz Eduard Todt, Ernst-Albert Scharffenorth, Glen Harold Stassen, Authentic Faith: Bonhoeffer's Theological Ethics in Context, →ISBN, page 21
    2 more examples

    Professors of post-coloniality have a curious need to heroicize (and self-heroicize) and these Australians are no exception.

    2007, Richard Serrano, Against the Postcolonial, →ISBN

    Societies heroicize soldiers during war to encourage young men to enlist and their families to support the war effort.

    2018, Eugene Edward Beiriger, World War I: A Historical Exploration of Literature, →ISBN, page 16

Origin

From heroic + -ize.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

heroicize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heroicize

MLA

“heroicize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heroicize. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heroicize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heroicize.

Source: heroicize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.