deify

/ˈdeɪ.ɪ.faɪ/

Etymology

From French déifier, from Latin deificāre, from deus (“god”). By surface analysis, deity + -ify.

Why this word is great

DEIFY — [Verb] To make into a god or treat as worthy of worship. From Latin deificāre ("to make divine"), from deus ("god") + -ficāre ("to make"). Unlike "venerate" (which implies deep respect but stops short of divinity) or "idolize" (which suggests blind admiration without theological weight), to deify is to perform the alchemy of apotheosis—turning mortal flesh into myth. It is the sculptor chiseling Alexander’s face onto the body of Zeus, the crowd shouting Caesar’s name in the same breath as Jupiter’s, or the biographer smoothing a flawed life into hagiography. We deify not because we believe, but because we cannot bear the alternative: that greatness, like all things, is mortal.

verb

To make into a god.“Near-synonyms: demideify, mythologize”
To regard as being like a deity; to treat as worthy of worship; to exalt.““Those people who have sought to deify our wilderness … those days are over. We are not going to sit around and read poetry to rare lizards, whilst our current account deficit goes down the gurgler,” Jones said.”