deify

verb

ˈdē-ə-ˌfī How to pronounce deify (audio)
Definition of deifynext
1
as in to adore
to love or admire too much materialistic people who deify money

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to venerate
to offer honor or respect to (someone) as a divine power some ancient pagans deified such objects of nature as trees and rivers

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to elevate
to assign a high status or value to the sense of entitlement felt by athletes who have been deified all their lives

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of deify Law goes balls out (literally) in crafting the narcissistic megalomaniac that is Ritter, a man who deifies Nietzsche. — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 8 Sep. 2024 Trump is deified in Butler, a town where longtime auto dealership owner Mike Kelly (who married into the T.W. Phillips oil and gas family fortune) loudly serves as a controversial U.S. representative. — Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press, 15 July 2024 The solution to this question can be reached not by deifying the nation, but on the contrary by completely liberating productive forces from the fetters imposed upon them by the national state. — Foreign Affairs, 18 Dec. 2011 Blockchain transactions are deified because of their completely private nature. — Maria Paula Fernandez, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024 See All Example Sentences for deify
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deify
  1. adore
  2. venerate
  3. elevate
  4. worship
  5. revere
  6. promote
  7. like
  8. exalt
Verb
  • Our protagonist, Jeff, hates romance reality shows with as much passion as his girlfriend adores them.
    — Randy McMullen, The Mercury News, 13 Mar. 2025
  • The married chefs, one of whom is Italian, adore artichokes.
    — Tamar Adler, Vogue, 7 Mar. 2025
Definition of adore
Verb
  • Also, a subculture referred to as Saints Culture, which venerates mass killers as almost superhuman figures, frames high-casualty attacks as the ultimate and only legacy worth emulating.
    — Odette Yousef, NPR, 8 Mar. 2025
  • Aquinas adds – and to me this is one of the most beautiful aspects of his reflections on relics – that venerating a relic is also a way of looking forward to the future resurrection of the body.
    — Therese Cory, The Conversation, 28 Jan. 2025
Definition of venerate
Verb
  • Leaders who are generous with their time, guidance, and support elevate not only their teams but their own influence.
    — Glenn Llopis, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2025
  • In the past two elections, however, Chicago voters elevated amateurs to the mayor’s office, with no management experience and minor political histories.
    — Forrest Claypool, Chicago Tribune, 14 Mar. 2025
Definition of elevate
Verb
  • The cluster of musicians were joined onstage by a soulful choir wearing black praise and worship robes.
    — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 19 Mar. 2025
  • For centuries, new technologies have changed the ways people worship, from the radio in the 1920s to television sets in the 1950s and the internet in the 1990s.
    — The New York Times News Service Syndicate, The Denver Post, 8 Mar. 2025
Definition of worship
Verb
  • Olive trees have long been revered not only for their fruit and oil but also for the resilience encoded in their DNA.
    — Scott Travers, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2025
  • Even without other big hits, the group remains revered in certain punk-rock circles.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 23 Mar. 2025
Definition of revere
Verb
  • On March 25, Princess Beatrice's friend Alice Naylor-Leyland posted pictures from their photo shoot promoting the HRH Princess Beatrice Baby Shower Collection from her Mrs. Alice brand.
    — Janine Henni, People.com, 26 Mar. 2025
  • All of this has happened under the helm of Leland Dudek, a former data-analyst at the agency who was promoted to acting commissioner while the confirmation of Trump nominee Frank Bisignano, a financial services executive, progresses in Congress.
    — Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Mar. 2025
Definition of promote
Verb
  • However, Brecher writes, not everyone liked these ideas.
    — Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 23 Mar. 2025
  • Finn likes to sit with Amato, who works from home – on his Pottery Barn kids sofa, which is personalized with his name.
    — Betty Lin-Fisher, USA TODAY, 23 Mar. 2025
Definition of like
Verb
  • With black fingernails and facial scruff in his debut years, Demna was seen as a ringleader for all things underground and alternative, exalting the grittier elements of Paris in his collections, along with jolts of S&M and punk, seen in kinky face hoods and spiky sunglasses.
    — Miles Socha, WWD, 13 Mar. 2025
  • So, here's to August Wilson, who exhumed and exalted the ordinary people.
    — Lydia Price, People.com, 2 Mar. 2025
Definition of exalt

Browse Nearby Words

deifies
deify
deifying
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Deify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deify. Accessed 29 Mar. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on deify

Nglish: Translation of deify for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Words You Always Have to Look Up

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Top 10 Sophisticated Insults

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

More Words with Remarkable Origins

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Top 10 Sophisticated Insults

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
burrowing owl athene cunicularia tilts its head outside its burrow on marco island florida
Guess the Curious Origins of These Everyday Words Oh, that’s where that comes from…
See All