Definition of "fetishize" [fetishize]

• To make a fetish of: "The American public schools . . . have in the space of a few years gone from neglecting computers to fetishizing them” ( James Traub). (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It seems that if you use the word fetishize to attack an idea you don't have to engage in supported or reasoned argument against the idea."
• "In other words, we feel guilty, and we, in his term, "fetishize" labor."
• "My right-leaning buddy Mike affirms the legality of the construction and actively wants the mosque built, though he also wonders how long we will continue to "fetishize" the area of Lower Manhattan close to Ground Zero."