Learn English – Word that means “to make look like a bad thing/force”

single-word-requestsvocabulary

There is a word (I think in ends in -ize) that means “to make seem like an an evil thing or force.” For instance:

The author __ the axe to foreshadow its usage in the coming tragedy.

What is the word?

NOTE: I don't think it's "antagonize" since that usually means "to make hostile".

Best Answer

There's always demonize

  1. (American) To turn into a demon.
  2. (American) To describe or represent as evil or diabolic.

Another good choice might be vilify. While it doesn't exactly mention it in the definition, I commonly hear it used to describe exactly what you're looking for.

  1. to lower in estimation or importance
  2. to utter slanderous and abusive statements against : defame

Edit:

I thought a little more about what you said about vilify, and how it doesn't really fit. It seems that the definition of villainize is closer to what you want.

  1. To represent as a villain.
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