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What is the antonym for "stigmatizing"?
I would like to describe this idea that people will stigmatize or [???] someone based on his conduct. Like saying that he is dishonorable [stigma] or a man of honor [???].
I feel admiring cannot express what I mean.
What about praise?
According to Oxford Dictionaries
Express warm approval or admiration of.
sing the praises of
Express enthusiastic approval or admiration of.
Also, you can search in a Thesaurus and choose the one you like most https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/thesaurus/stigma
I want to congratulate Dávid Leblay for his suggestion glorify, because I think that it preserves the touch of religiosity that stigmatize transmits.
Looking for the exact meaning of apotheosize (suggested by @Fattie), I've found another good one
Admire, revere, or love greatly or excessively.
You could use lionise / lionize.
lionize: give a lot of public attention and approval to (someone); treat as a celebrity.
modern sportsmen are lionized and feted
Nevertheless, he is a flamboyant showman, fond of electric blue suits, who once turned up on a motorbike to wild applause at the Cannes festival, where he is lionised.
People will lionize you as the Voice of a Generation.
In 1778, after an absence of 28 years, he made a triumphal return to Paris, where he was lionized for four months in a way few writers can ever have experienced.
[ODO]
I think glorify works the best, as it is pretty casual, but quite descriptive. Or, depending on context, idolize might be the one you're looking for.
If you want something a bit more fancy, I think exalt, and its synonyms are excellent
Antonyms include valorize (in American English) or valorise (in British English), exalt, extol and acclaim (all transitive verbs), or pay homage (intransitive, but can take to and an indirect object).
I think these are particularly close antonyms because they all mean attempting to raise someone’s reputation, but valorize is the closest because the subject of the verb does not have to be a person and it does not imply a speech-act.
Take, for example, the sentence, “Memorial Day valorizes America’s fallen troops.” That’s the closest antonym I can think of to a phrase like “stigmatizes Vietnam veterans.” The word exalt would also work, but doesn’t sound as good to me. It would be incorrect to say extol or praise, because those are things only a person can do. We can stigmatize through our actions or by implication, but acclaim or praise is more specifically a speech-act. We could also say honor or pay respect to in this context, but those are broader: they could also be things we do in private, and stigmatize necessarily means damaging someone’s public reputation.
If we say glorify here, that connotes undeserved praise, in much the same way that stigmatize connotes undeserved oppobrium, so in one sense it’s a better antonym, and in another, a worse one. Interestingly, honor is the only one of those words that specifically implies the person receiving the homage deserves it, but I can think of many others that carry the opposite implication.
Normalizing.
Here's an example of that use: http://freebeacon.com/politics/steyer-not-talking-impeachment-pelosi-normalizing-trump/
Paying homage to. Or still, esteeming.
legitimize
This will vary by context but in some cases is exactly the right word.
Why not use enshrining - to contain or keep something as if in a holy place:
Almost two and a half million war dead are enshrined at Yasukuni. A lot of memories are enshrined in this photograph album.
Sanctify: "set apart as or declare holy; consecrate."
While this is more accurately an antonym for "demonize", it also works as an antonym for "stigmatize". Stigmatizing something is to make it undesirable/unclean/disfavored to most. Sanctifying something is the process of making it desirable/holy/favored by most.
The word you perhaps want is
That's about as strong as it gets!
How about glamorizing?
Depending on the context, an organisation may wish to forster and encourage certain behaviors it deems positive and constructive, by adding an air of glamour to particular eminent exemplars of same.
For example, a university may allow athletics stars who practice a healthy lifestyle and strong work ethic to have certain privileges and the equivalents of some kinds of badges of honor.
