Meaning & use
canonize
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitive
Officially declare a dead person to be a saint in the Christian Church.
Grammar: Takes an object: canonize someone.
Patterns
- canonize someone
- be canonized as a saint
The pope canonized Mother Teresa in 2016.
She was canonized for her charitable work.
The process to canonize a person can take many years.
verbtransitivefigurative
Treat someone or something as an ideal or perfect example, often uncritically.
Grammar: Takes an object: canonize a writer.
Patterns
- canonize someone
- canonize something
Critics have canonized his early novels as masterpieces.
The media tends to canonize young athletes too quickly.
Some fans canonize the band's first album, ignoring their later work.
Word forms
| third person singular | canonizes |
|---|---|
| past tense | canonized |
| past participle | canonized |
| -ing form | canonizing |
Common combinations
- canonize a saint
- The church decided to canonize the martyred priest.
- be canonized as
- He was canonized as a saint in 1998.
- canonize a writer
- Scholars have canonized her as a major poet.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sanctify
- Sanctify means to make holy or set apart as sacred; canonize specifically refers to the official church declaration.
- glorify
- Glorify means to praise highly; canonize in the figurative sense implies treating as an established ideal.
Opposites
Word family
- canonization noun
- The act or process of declaring someone a saint.
- canon noun
- A list of accepted works or saints.
Commonly confused: canonize or canonize?
canonize vs canonize
Not to be confused with 'cannonize', which is not a word; 'cannon' is a large gun.
Practice
The church decided to ______ the priest who had devoted his life to helping the poor.
Choose one answer.
The verb 'canonize' means to officially make someone a saint, which fits the context. 'Canonical' is an adjective, 'cannonize' is not a word, and 'canon' is a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “canonize”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.