demonize

Question

Is there any word or phrase in Spanish that is equivalent to the English "demonize"? (To characterize/represent someone as evil or diabolic.)

Examples:
Don't demonize him because of one mistake.
We tend to demonize our enemies.

Answer 1

demonizar

On second look, this word in not in our nor the RAE's dictionary, so I think that this this web site might be mistaken.

Answer 2

Yeah, I haven't seen demonizar in other dictionaries either. Perhaps because the English word is awkward in itself -- I don't even know if it's a "real" word even though I hear many people using it. The -ize is added to practically everything these days. ;>

Hmm...Thanks, though. Anybody else have a suggestion or comment on this? Is demonizar maybe more of Latin American usage'

Answer 3

I've found demonizar in a few dictionaries, but the synonym satanizar has an entry in more of them.

Answer 4

Satanizar! Wow, that sounds diabolical indeed. Thanks for that. I'll check it out.

Vikingo said:

I've found demonizar in a few dictionaries, but the synonym satanizar has an entry in more of them.

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Answer 5

Try looking up: endemoniar and endiablar

Answer 6

Interesting question. Demonizar does seem to have currency, but it also seems to be a fairly new word (hence its absence from the DRAE), and may have come from the English. I did find many websites where demonizar was used in this way, but again, most of them seemed to be translations of English news articles, or somehow related to the English-speaking world. My hunch is that a native author would phrase this idea differently. Maybe something like "representar como malvado," "representar como si fuera diabólico," etc.

Endemoniar and endiablar seem to me to have a different meaning, that is, they mean to put a demon in someone, thereby angering them, rather than merely painting someone as a demon in order to harm their reputation, which is what demonize means.

Answer 7

Thanks, James! Very insightful points there. And you're right -- something like "representar como malvado" seems much closer to what I'm trying to say.

James Santiago said:

My hunch is that a native author would phrase this idea differently. Maybe something like "representar como malvado," "representar como si fuera diabólico," etc.

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Answer 8

I've never heard "demonizar", but it is clear what it means anyway. I've always heard "satanizar", with exactly the same meaning that "demonize" is meant to have.