cosmeticize

(redirected from cosmeticizes)

cos·met·i·cize

(kŏz-mĕt′ĭ-sīz′)

tr.v. cos·met·i·cized, cos·met·i·ciz·ing, cos·met·i·ciz·es

To make superficially attractive or acceptable: "cosmeticized packages of song and dance for easy audience consumption" (Saturday Review).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cosmeticize

(kɒzˈmɛtɪˌsaɪz) or

cosmeticise

vb (tr)

to give (someone or something) a cosmetic treatment

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cos•met•i•cize

(kɒzˈmɛt əˌsaɪz)

v.t. -cized, -ciz•ing.

to improve superficially; cause to seem better or more attractive.

[1815–25]

References in periodicals archive ?

Ozick believes that the false Anne Frank, more successfully marketed than the actual one--though readers can find it in the unexpurgated diary published in 1995--not only transforms a great writer into a lesser one but in the case of Anne, who has become for many a symbol of the Holocaust, cosmeticizes that tragedy and is itself a tragedy.