Aestheticized

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. To be transformed in a manner that highlights artistic style and beauty
2. To undergo changes that emphasize visual attractiveness and artistic expression
3. Altered so that artistic qualities and visual appeal are more prominent

Etymology: "Aestheticized" is the past participle of "aestheticize," which was formed by adding the verb-forming suffix "-ize" to "aesthetic." The adjective "aesthetic" came into English in the early 1800s, borrowed from German "ästhetisch," itself built from the Greek "aisthētikos," meaning "perceptive by the senses" and drawn from "aisthesthai," "to perceive." The original sense was therefore about sensory perception in general, not beauty. The narrower sense of "pertaining to beauty and artistic taste" grew out of the 18th-century German philosophical use of the term, especially after Alexander Baumgarten's 1750s work on aesthetics as the study of sensory knowledge. The verb "aestheticize" is much later, appearing in English in the 20th century, and it carried a critical edge from the start. Writers such as Walter Benjamin, in his 1936 essay on art and mechanical reproduction, used the German "ästhetisieren" to describe politics made into spectacle, so the word often implies that substance has been traded for surface appeal. Its modern meaning, to make something more visually appealing or artistically styled, follows from this, though the criticism is often still present.

Synonyms: beautified, styled, decorated, refined, enhanced

Antonyms: debased, uglified, simplified