mythologize

/mi'θɔlədʤaiz/

Thân thiện

The poet mythologized the king's three sons in an epic poem.

Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To transform into myth; to treat as mythical: To convert historical events, people, or objects into the subject of myth, often by exaggerating or embellishing their qualities.
   • To construct or create a myth about something: To invent or narrate a story that has the characteristics of a traditional myth.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • To engage in the study or creation of myths: To be involved in mythological research or composition. (This sense is less common.)

Usage and Examples

• Transitive verb (to make into a myth):

  • Over time, people began to mythologize the old cowboy, turning him into a symbol of untamed freedom.
  • The film deliberately mythologizes the founding of the company, ignoring its more complicated history.

• Transitive verb (to construct a myth):

  • The ancient poets would mythologize natural phenomena, giving storms and seasons divine explanations.
  • He mythologized his childhood, describing it as a perfect, endless summer.

• Intransitive verb:

  • As a scholar, she dedicated her life to mythologize about ancient cultures. (Note: "to mythologize" in this intransitive sense is often replaced by "to study mythology" or "to create myths.")

Advanced Usage and Nuance

• Cultural Process: "Mythologize" often describes a cultural or societal process where facts become intertwined with legend.

  • Nations often mythologize their war heroes to inspire patriotism.

• Critical Connotation: The word can carry a critical tone, implying that the transformation into myth involves distortion or idealization.

  • The biography seeks to demystify the artist, not to further mythologize him.

Variants and Related Words

• Mythologization (noun): The process or result of mythologizing.

  • The mythologization of the frontier is a key theme in American literature.

• Mythologizer (noun): A person who mythologizes.

• Demythologize (verb): To remove the mythical character from; to interpret rationally. This is an antonymic process.
  • The historian aimed to demythologize the popular tales about the emperor.

Synonyms

• Romanticize: To make something seem more appealing or idealized than in reality.
• Glorify: To praise or honor excessively; to make glorious.
• Legendize: To turn into a legend (less common).
• Apotheosize: To elevate to the status of a god; to deify.

Antonyms

• Demythologize: To remove mythical elements.
• Debunk: To expose the falseness of a myth or belief.
• Historicize: To treat or represent as historical.

Related Phrases and Concepts

• To become mythologized: A passive construction describing the state of having been turned into myth.

  • The event has become so mythologized that the truth is hard to find.

• Myth-making: The act or process of creating myths. This is a related noun phrase.

  • The film is an exercise in pure myth-making.

Học thuật

Verb

1. make into a myth
   • The Europeans have mythicized Rte. 66
2. construct a myth
   • The poet mythologized that the King had three sons

Từ đồng nghĩa

• mythologise
• mythicize
• mythicise