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canonize

[kan-uh-nahyz] / ˈkæn əˌnaɪz /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Memes, livestreams and hashtags now allow anyone to canonize someone they admire.

From Salon Sep. 27, 2025

“It’s a gift of God that Pope Francis — an Argentine pope, a Jesuit pope — can canonize her,” he said.

From Seattle Times Feb. 11, 2024

Williams is arguably the best candidate for the Heisman Trophy, but to canonize him in such manner is another story.

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 17, 2022

Although some on the committee seem ready to canonize the fasting girl, others are more skeptical.

From New York Times Nov. 17, 2022

Six several attempts were made, at various times, to canonize Capistrano, but the fates were against it.

From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II by Henry Charles Lea

—Pope Francis announces the revocation of sainthood for Father Junipero Serra and canonizes Huell Howser as California’s patron saint.

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 5, 2021

Pope Benedict swiftly canonizes a deserving trio of new saints.

From Slate Feb. 19, 2013

A refreshingly direct and amusingly tactless interrogator, he neither sentimentalizes nor canonizes his feisty models, who handle their variously truncated limbs with casual practicality.

From New York Times Apr. 16, 2010

On September 4, Mother Teresa will be elevated to sainthood when Pope Francis canonizes her at the Vatican.

From National Geographic

And Tsao Chün, 166–167 Li Shih-min, Emperor; and legend of the five graduates, 243 sq.; and Chang T’ien-shih, 243 sq.; visited by spirits of the graduates, 245–246; canonizes the graduates, 246 Li T’ieh-kuai.

From Myths and Legends of China by E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers) Werner

In 2002, he was canonized by Pope John Paul II, becoming the first Catholic saint from the Americas.

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 3, 2025

Nicknamed “God’s influencer,” Carlo was canonized for his internet evangelism, his faith amid fatal sickness and other reasons, including two healing miracles attributed to his posthumous intervention.

From The Wall Street Journal Nov. 28, 2025

Catholic school nuns practically canonized John F. Kennedy, never ceasing to remind us students that he was the first Catholic President.

From Salon Aug. 18, 2024

The first four caliphs committed to writing a canonized Quran and helped interpret and articulate the religious law.

From Textbooks Apr. 19, 2023

Poverty was a gleaming thing; she could not conceive of poor people being vicious or nasty because their poverty had canonized them, and the greatest saints were the foreign poor.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Advocates in the fight against child sex trafficking, by contrast, take issue with the film for canonizing the controversial operations of Ballard and his former organization, Operation Underground Railroad.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 14, 2023

The process for canonizing that priest, the Rev. Leon Dehon, had begun more than 40 years earlier.

From Seattle Times Dec. 6, 2019

I wholeheartedly concur that Mr. McCain deserves honoring, but canonizing him, as the media and the political elite seem to be doing, is going way too far.

From Washington Post Sep. 5, 2018

Perhaps the director Jim Jarmusch was worried that the bad behavior would detract from his efforts at canonizing Iggy Pop’s group, the Stooges, which he calls “the greatest rock ’n’ roll band ever.”

From New York Times Mar. 23, 2017

Originally, every bishop had the privilege of canonizing saints, or declaring them entitled to the honors which the Catholic church bestows on her saints.

From The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints January, February, March by Alban Butler




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