deify

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
deify
    v 1: consider as a god or godlike; "These young men deify
         financial success"
    2: exalt to the position of a God; "the people deified their
       King"
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Deify \De"i*fy\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Deified}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Deifying}.] [F. d['e]ifier, LL. deificare, fr. L. deificus.
   See {Deific}, {Deity}, {-fy}.]
   1. To make a god of; to exalt to the rank of a deity; to
      enroll among the deities; to apotheosize; as, Julius
      C[ae]sar was deified.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To praise or revere as a deity; to treat as an object of
      supreme regard; as, to deify money.
      [1913 Webster]

            He did again so extol and deify the pope. --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To render godlike.
      [1913 Webster]

            By our own spirits are we deified.    --Wordsworth.
      [1913 Webster]
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
77 Moby Thesaurus words for "deify":
      accord respect to, admire, adore, adulate, aggrandize, apotheose,
      apotheosize, appreciate, beatify, belaud, bepraise, bless, blow up,
      boast of, brag about, canonize, celebrate, crown, cry up, defer to,
      elevate, emblazon, ennoble, enshrine, entertain respect for,
      enthrone, esteem, eulogize, exalt, extol, favor, fetish, fetishize,
      flatter, glamorize, glorify, hero-worship, hold in esteem,
      hold in reverence, honor, idol, idolatrize, idolify, idolize,
      immortalize, laud, lionize, look up to, magnify, make legendary,
      make much of, overpraise, panegyrize, pay tribute, porter aux nues,
      praise, prize, puff, puff up, raise, regard, respect, revere,
      reverence, saint, salute, sanctify, set up, think highly of,
      think much of, think well of, throne, trumpet, uplift, value,
      venerate, worship

    

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