fetishize
fetishize Lexical Profile
fetishize Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To have an excessive, irrational, or obsessive devotion to or fixation on (something); to idealize or exoticize in a superficial or reductive way.
"The critic argued that modern tech culture tends to fetishize productivity at the expense of personal well-being."
To make (an object, body part, or non-sexual attribute) the focus of a sexual fetish or erotic fixation.
"Psychological studies have long examined how certain subcultures fetishize specific styles of footwear."
Word Nuance & Usage
In modern critical, sociological, and everyday discourse, 'fetishize' is frequently used in a non-sexual sense to criticize the superficial, obsessive idealization or exoticization of a culture, group, or concept.
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in the late 19th century from 'fetish' and the verbal suffix '-ize'; 'fetish' derives via French and Portuguese feitiço ('charm' or 'sorcery') from Latin facticius ('artificial' or 'made by art').