immortalize

IPA/ɪˈmɔːtəlaɪz/
KK[ˌɪmˈɔrtəlaɪz]IPA/ɪˈmɔːrtəlaɪz/

immortalize — verb

  • immortalizepresent simple I / you / we / they
  • immortalizeshe / she / it
  • immortalizedpast simple
  • immortalizing-ing form

1. to make a person, event, or thing so widely known or celebrated that people cont

1.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to make a person, event, or thing so widely known or celebrated that people continue to remember them far into the future, typically through a work of art, literature, film, or other lasting record

Example

Sirin's award-winning photograph immortalized the joy of the village festival.

The battle was immortalized in a famous poem that schoolchildren still read today.

passive: be immortalized in + [art form]

Common collocations
  • immortalized in a book / poem / film / song
  • immortalized by an artist / writer / filmmaker
  • immortalized through art / literature / photography
Synonyms
  • commemorate

    focuses on honouring or remembering an event, often with a ceremony or monument, rather than achieving lasting fame

  • enshrine

    suggests reverent preservation, as if something is kept sacred; more formal and less common

  • eternalize

    a near-synonym but very rare in everyday language

Antonyms
  • forget

    the opposite effect — to no longer have someone or something in memory

  • obscure

    to make someone or something unknown or difficult to remember

Grammar Patterns

immortalize + noun phrase

be immortalized + in/by + noun phrase

Usage Note

Frequently used in the passive voice (be immortalized in/by). The object of the active sentence becomes the subject in the passive, and the medium of preservation (a book, film, painting, song, etc.) typically follows the preposition 'in'.

Common Mistakes

The documentary immortalized.
The documentary immortalized the festival.
'immortalize' is transitive and always needs a direct object specifying who or what is made famous.
His performance made him immortalize.
His performance immortalized him.
Do not add 'make' before 'immortalize'; the verb already means 'to make famous forever'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All three words describe preserving something in memory, but they differ in scope and tone. 'Commemorate' is the most general and frequent; it focuses on honouring an event or person, often through a ceremony, monument, or official act (e.g. 'The statue commemorates the soldiers who died in the war'). 'Enshrine' carries a reverent, almost sacred quality — it suggests that something is preserved as if it were a precious relic (e.g. 'The principles of the revolution are enshrined in the constitution'). 'Eternalize' is a very rare synonym of 'immortalize' and is used almost exclusively in poetic or philosophical writing. 'Immortalize' sits between them: it is less formal than 'enshrine' but stronger than 'commemorate' in predicting lasting fame. Use 'immortalize' when a work of art or literature is the vehicle that keeps a person, story, or moment alive for generations.

commemorate ↗enshrine ↗eternalize ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • in a work of art
  • through the ages

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinEnglish

The word 'immortalize' was formed in English by combining the Latin-derived adjective 'immortal' (from 'in-' meaning 'not' and 'mortalis' meaning 'subject to death') with the verb-forming suffix '-ize'. It first appeared in English in the 16th century, originally meaning 'to make immune to death', and later broadened to its modern sense of preserving someone or something in lasting fame.

First known use

1566

1566, in the meaning defined above