valorize

verb

val·​o·​rize ˈva-lə-ˌrīz How to pronounce valorize (audio)
valorized; valorizing

transitive verb

1
: to enhance or try to enhance the price, value, or status of by organized and usually governmental action
using subsidies to valorize coffee
2
: to assign value or merit to : validate
valorization noun

Examples of valorize in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
At home, the atmosphere was decorous, curious, gentle; outside, the culture of the nineteen-fifties was tougher, valorizing war and papering over a darker, more furtive kind of violence. Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 25 Jan. 2025 Shooting in stunning Technicolor in his favorite location, Utah’s Monument Valley, Ford fills the film with lyrical passages while valorizing a soldier whose primary concern is preventing bloodshed rather than facilitating it. Keith Phipps, Vulture, 13 Mar. 2024 Mangione, 26, has since been charged with second-degree murder in New York, among other crimes, and has been valorized as a folk hero in many corners of the internet, though the killing of Thompson, 50, has also been widely condemned. Miranda Kennedy, Vox, 10 Dec. 2024 At these events, Putin prominently valorized living veterans as role models for contemporary Russian citizens. Ronald R. Krebs, Foreign Affairs, 14 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for valorize

Word History

Etymology

back-formation from valorization, borrowed from Portuguese valorizacão, from valorizar "to enhance the value of" (from valor "value, worth"—going back to early Medieval Latin—+ -izar -ize) + -acão -ation — more at valor

First Known Use

circa 1906, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of valorize was circa 1906

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Cite this Entry

“Valorize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/valorize. Accessed 15 Mar. 2025.

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