deify
verbUK /ˈdeɪ.ɪ.faɪ/ · US /ˈdiː.ə.faɪ/
Etymology From French déifier, from Latin deificāre, from deus (“god”). By surface analysis, deity + -ify.
1
To make into a god.
- Near-synonyms: demideify, mythologize
2
To regard as being like a deity; to treat as worthy of worship; to exalt.
- “Those people who have sought to deify our wilderness … those days are over. We are not going to sit around and read poetry to rare lizards, whilst our current account deficit goes down the gurgler,” Jones said.2025 May 26, Eva Corlett, quoting Shane Jones, “New Zealand will not be ‘guilt-tripped’ over environment, resources minister says”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- Derived terms
- deifier, demideify, disdeify, nondeified, redeify, semideified, undeify
- Related terms
- deific, deification, deified, numen, numina