timonize

timonize means to behave as a misanthrope. It carries an Arena rating of 1500, earned across 97 head-to-head judged battles.

Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, timonize ranks #38 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #1,293 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #1,387 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #2,802 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.

Why “timonize” is a great word

TIMONIZE — [Verb] To behave as a misanthrope, or to cause someone to become bitterly misanthropic. From the name Timon, a 5th-century-BCE Athenian misanthrope (as described by Plutarch, Lucian, and Aristophanes, and later by Shakespeare in *Timon of Athens*), combined with the English verbal suffix -ize (meaning 'to act like, to treat in the manner of'). First attested in 1707 by William Darrell. Unlike "misanthropize" (a rare, general verb for distrusting humanity) or "cynicize" (which implies a scornful philosophical stance), to timonize is to enact a specific, theatrical withdrawal born of personal grievance. It is the retreat to a solitary cave to eat roots; the quiet act of pruning one's guest list down to the roots of a solitary tree; the absolute, final turning of one’s back on the city gates. It is the performance of one’s own disappointment, for an audience of none, a self-made ruin that proves the very point it mourns.

Etymology

From Timon + -ize, after the 5th-century-BCE person Timon of Athens (as described by Plutarch, Lucian, and Aristophanes), possibly by way of William Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens (c. 1607). Used intransitively by William Darrell in his book The Gentleman Instructed (1713), and transitively by Herman Melville in his novel Pierre (1852).

verb

To behave as a misanthrope.e.g.“I should be tempted to Timonize, and clap a Satyr upon our whole Species.” — 1713, William Darrell, The Gentleman Instructed, 5th edition
To cause (someone) to slide into bitter misanthropy, into Timonism.

Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Words closest in meaning

By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.

timonization 86% match — The transformation of someone into a bitter misanthrope, a Timonist, like Timon of Athens. vs timonize →
simianize 57% match — To represent (a person, typically of a foreign or minority ethnicity) as simian. vs timonize →
philippicize 56% match — To engage in a tirade or diatribe full of bitter condemnation. vs timonize →
hominize 52% match — To make human, or treat as if human. vs timonize →
detemporize 51% match — To remove the temporal aspect of; to take (something) out of its time. vs timonize →
philippize 51% match — To support or advocate the cause of Philip of Macedon; (more generally) to speak as someone who has been wrongly inspired or corrupted. vs timonize →
physiognomize 51% match — To observe and study the physiognomy of. vs timonize →
moralize 50% match — To make moral reflections (on, upon, about or over something); to regard acts and events as involving a moral. vs timonize →