villainize
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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We’ve been taught to fetishize our suffering and villainize our joy — that working toward a long-term goal should feel like work.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 27, 2026
When “Yellowstone,” Sheridan’s first show, premiered in 2018, #MeToo was reverberating across television with producers waffling over whether to villainize or defend macho characters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
“Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity,” he said at a press conference.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2025
But she also sees a temptation among public officials to villainize or medicalize loneliness— and to tout simplistic “solutions” to a complex and natural part of the human experience.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 24, 2024
“No. They probably would villainize you to justify it.”
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
These feelings have morphed into, as I’ve heard it, “showing empathy for categories of people who are marginalized and villainized and did nothing to bring it on themselves.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
On a human level, how does it feel to be so villainized?
From Salon ● May 15, 2025
“For the past 2 years, the media has benefited from my pain & me being villainized to create a narrative. They allowed this. This was beneficial to them,” she wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2024
But it’s important to note that not all cultures villainized menstruation, Clancy says.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 29, 2023
“We’re not only being tasked with taking this on, but we’re villainized for speaking up,” Castro said.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 3, 2023
Figgener fears the public also became too focused on villainizing straws, rather than looking at plastic production itself as the problem.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 12, 2023
The Corporation is just like all the giant conglomerates villainizing contemporary narratives, from Dave Eggers’ “The Circle” to “Silicon Valley’s” Hooli to “WALL-E’s” Buy n Large to “Severance’s” Lumon Industries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2023
“Nobody is villainizing the county” for property tax increases, he said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 24, 2022
Knox has since slammed the movie for profiting off of her trauma, villainizing her and sensationalizing her story.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2021
Though Aniston is down to do whatever unbecoming thing is asked of her, the show itself seems intermittently panicked about how far it can go in villainizing her.
From Slate ● Nov. 14, 2019
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