Citations:idiotize

English citations of idiotize

make stupid (tr.)

• 1890, Horace Traubel, quoting W. S. Kennedy, “Letter from W. S. Kennedy”, in With Walt Whitman in Camden, Volume 7: July 7, 1890 - February 10, 1891, Fellowship of Friends, published 1992, page 397:

  But — I hope they won't mythologize you & idiotize themselves as they do over that poor Christ.

• 1994, Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God, →ISBN, page 12:

  Truth has been relegated to subjectivity; beauty has been subjugated to the beholder; and as millions are idiotized night after night, a global commune has been constructed with the arts enjoying a totalitarian rule.

become stupid (intr.)

• 1916, Charles Norris Williamson with Alice Muriel Williamson, The Lightning Conductor Discovers America, Garden City, New York: Doubleday Page, →OL, page 158:

  All through those gay and vital young woods which wall the road beyond I continued to idiotize, unable to see dryads dancing in the moonlight (as she and I saw them in the same spot tonight), careless that Nature was distilling magic perfume for us from tree and fern and wild flower, our eyes shut to the fact that elves disguised as Indian lilies were using silvered ponds for mirrors.

deem stupid

• 1861, John Jones, The Natural and Supernatural: or Man: Physical, Apparitional, and Spiritual, →OL, page 314:

  The sounds of many waters, the sound of air sweeping through the trees, the cry of pain, the shout of joy, are all kinds of rapping or concussions of air, which all nations understand ; but let us not idiotize a German, because his raps are to us foolish ; neither let us idiotize spirits, if they rap or speak at the family table ; let us, if we wish their company, endeavour to understand their sounds.

• 2008, Kenneth David, “Socio-Technical Analysis of those Concerned with Emerging Technology, Engagement, and Governance”, in Kenneth H. David, Paul B. Thompson, editors, What Can Nanotechnology Learn From Biotechnology?: Social and Ethical Lessons for Nanoscience from the Debate Over Agrifood Biotechnology and GMOs, 1st edition, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 14:

  Opponents to technology, for example, may "demonize" the proponents. On the other hand, staunch proponents to the technology may "idiotize" the opponents.