Meaning & use
idealized image
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Meanings
nouncountable
A picture of someone or something that shows only the good qualities and ignores the faults.
Grammar: Countable: you can have one idealized image or several idealized images of the same person.
Patterns
- an idealized image of someone
- an idealized image of something
- create an idealized image
- present an idealized image
The film gives an idealized image of country life, with no mud or money worries.
Teenagers often compare themselves with the idealized image of beauty they see online.
nouncountablefigurative
A mental picture that a person or group treats as perfect and wants to live up to.
Grammar: Often used with 'of': an idealized image of the family, of the past, of motherhood.
Patterns
- an idealized image of the past
- an idealized image of family life
- hold up an idealized image
He still carries an idealized image of his childhood in the old town.
Politicians held up an idealized image of the nation that few voters recognized.
Word forms
| plural | idealized images |
|---|
Common combinations
- an idealized image of
- The novel presents an idealized image of village life.
- project an idealized image
- Advertisers project an idealized image of the perfect home.
- promote an idealized image
- Social media promotes an idealized image of travel.
- an idealized image of the past
- The museum offers an idealized image of the past.
- conform to an idealized image
- She felt pressure to conform to an idealized image of success.
Synonyms and how they differ
- romanticized view
- Suggests adding emotion and glamour; an idealized image can be cool and factual, not necessarily romantic.
- stereotype
- A fixed, oversimplified idea about a group; an idealized image is usually positive and admired rather than negative.
- fantasy
- Something imagined and unreal; an idealized image may be based on real things but cleaned up.
Opposites
Word family
- idealize verb
- To treat someone or something as better than they really are.
- idealized adjective
- Describing something shown as perfect or better than reality.
- idealization noun
- The act of making someone or something seem perfect.
- ideal noun
- A principle or standard that you try to reach.
Commonly confused: idealized image or ideal image? idealized image or idolized image?
idealized image vs ideal image
'Ideal image' means a perfect image; 'idealized image' stresses that the perfection is a false or one-sided presentation.
idealized image vs idolized image
'Idolized' means deeply admired as a hero or star; 'idealized' means made to look faultless.
Practice
The biography avoids an idealized image ___ the scientist and shows his failures too.
Choose one answer.
'An image of someone' is the fixed pattern for what the image shows. 'For' would suggest a purpose, and 'about' does not fit this noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “idealized image”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.