<noun.act> the idealization of rural life was very misleading
(psychiatry) a defense mechanism that splits something you are ambivalent about into two representations--one good and one bad
<noun.process>
something that exists only as an idea
<noun.cognition>
Idealization \I*de`al*i*za"tion\, n. 1. The act or process of idealizing.
2. (Fine Arts) The representation of natural objects, scenes, etc., in such a way as to show their most important characteristics; the study of the ideal.
3. A defense mechanism that splits something one is ambivalent about into two representations -- one good and one bad. [WordNet sense 1] [WordNet 1.5]
4. something that exists only as an idea. [WordNet sense 2] [WordNet 1.5]
5. a protrayal of something as ideal. [WordNet sense 3]