Aestheticizing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of rendering an object or experience more visually or artistically appealing
2. The process of enhancing something with features that improve its artistic or sensory appeal
3. Adding or emphasizing beauty or artistic qualities to something to increase its attractiveness

Etymology: Aesthetic comes from ancient Greek "aisthētikos," meaning "perceptive" or "relating to sense perception," built from "aisthanesthai," "to perceive." For most of its history the word had nothing to do with beauty. It moved into modern European languages through the New Latin "aesthēticus" and the French "esthétique," and only later came to mean matters of taste and beauty in art. "Aestheticize" is a formation in English, made by adding the suffix "-ize" to "aesthetic." The suffix comes from Greek "-izein," which turned nouns and adjectives into verbs meaning "to make into" or "to treat in the manner of." So to aestheticize something is to make it conform to an aesthetic ideal, giving it a pleasing surface and style. The verb form "aestheticizing" is the present participle, used for the ongoing action of giving things that polished look. The participle takes its meaning directly from the base verb and its Greek-derived suffix.

Synonyms: beautifying, enhancing, embellishing, improving, refining

Antonyms: uglyfying, degrading, diminishing, defacing, spoiling