demonize

English

Alternative forms

• daemonise (UK)
• daemonize (chiefly UK)
• dæmonize (rare)
• demonise (UK)

Etymology

From Medieval Latin daemonizō, from daemon +‎ -izō. Compare Ancient Greek δαιμονίζομαι (daimonízomai, “to be possessed by a demon”), from δαίμων (daímōn, “demon”). By surface analysis, demon +‎ -ize.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdiːmənaɪz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

demonize (third-person singular simple present demonizes, present participle demonizing, simple past and past participle demonized)

1. (transitive) To turn into a demon.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To describe or represent as evil or diabolic, usually falsely.
   • 2020 September 1, Peter Baker, “Trump has a long history of language that incites and demonizes.”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     President Trump has seized on the response in the streets to police brutality against Black men and women to bolster his re-election campaign, employing provocative and sometimes incendiary language and images to incite his followers, demonize his opponents or both.

   • 2022 October 3, Michelle Goldberg, “Boys and Men Are in Crisis Because Society Is”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     He calls for a “massive, urgent recruitment effort,” which is a fine idea, but one that’s likely to be futile unless we stop demonizing teachers and start paying them fairly.

   • 2024 May 11, Isabella Sylvester, “18 Things Society Has Demonized That Should Be Considered Normal”, in MSN‎^[3]:

     Many people disagree with several things society has normalized, some of which are even demonized. Frustratingly, attaching a stigma to perfectly reasonable things makes people feel attacked when they publicly do them.

Synonyms

• (represent as evil or diabolic): vilify

Derived terms

• dedemonize
• demonizable
• demonization
• demonizer
• redemonize
• undemonized

 

Translations

turn into a demon

• Bulgarian: демонизирам (demoniziram)
• Estonian: kurjaks vaimuks muutma
• Finnish: muuttaa pahoialseksi, muuttaa demoniksi
• French: diaboliser (fr), démoniser (fr)
• German: dämonisieren (de)
• Greek: δαιμονοποιώ (el) (daimonopoió)
• Italian: demonizzare (it)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: dêw kirin

• Polish: demonizować (pl)
• Romanian: demoniza
• Russian: демонизи́ровать (ru) (demonizírovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: демонизовати

  Roman: demonizovati

• Swedish: svärta ned
• Vietnamese: biến thành quỷ

describe or represent as evil

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: дэманізаваць (demanizavacʹ)
• Catalan: demonitzar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 妖魔化 (yāomóhuà)

• Czech: démonizovat
• Dutch: demoniseren (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: demonisoida (fi)
• French: diaboliser (fr)
• Galician: demonizar
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: dämonisieren (de), verteufeln (de)
• Greek: δαιμονοποιώ (el) (daimonopoió)
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: असुरीकरण m (asurikaran)
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: ibliskan
• Italian: demonizzare (it)
• Japanese: 悪魔化 (akuma-ka)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: demonizować (pl) impf, diabolizować
• Portuguese: demonizar (pt)
• Romanian: demoniza
• Russian: демонизи́ровать (ru) (demonizírovatʹ)
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: demonizar (es)
• Swedish: demonisera (sv)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: демонізува́ти impf or pf (demonizuváty), демонізо́вувати impf (demonizóvuvaty) (rare)

Galician

Verb

demonize

1. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of demonizar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative