IDEALIZATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does idealization mean? 

• IDEALIZATION (noun)
  The noun IDEALIZATION has 3 senses:

1. a portrayal of something as ideal

2. (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that splits something you are ambivalent about into two representations--one good and one bad

3. something that exists only as an idea

  Familiarity information: IDEALIZATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IDEALIZATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A portrayal of something as ideal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

glorification; idealisation; idealization

Context example:

the idealization of rural life was very misleading

Hypernyms ("idealization" is a kind of...):

admiration; appreciation (a favorable judgment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "idealization"):

romanticisation; romanticization; sentimentalisation; sentimentalization (the act of indulging in sentiment)

Derivation:

idealize (consider or render as ideal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(psychiatry) a defense mechanism that splits something you are ambivalent about into two representations--one good and one bad

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

idealisation; idealization

Hypernyms ("idealization" is a kind of...):

defence; defence mechanism; defence reaction; defense; defense mechanism; defense reaction ((psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires)

Domain category:

psychiatry; psychological medicine; psychopathology (the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Something that exists only as an idea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

idealisation; idealization

Hypernyms ("idealization" is a kind of...):

idea; thought (the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about)