dramatize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to put into a form suitable for acting on a stage.
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to express or represent vividly, emotionally, or strikingly.
He dramatizes his woes with sobs and sighs.
verb (used without object)
verb
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(tr) to put into dramatic form
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to express or represent (something) in a dramatic or exaggerated way
he dramatizes his illness
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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undramatizedadjective
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dramatizableadjective
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well-dramatizedadjective
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dramatizernoun
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overdramatizeverb
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undramatizableadjective
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has dramatizedperfect 3rd person singular
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have dramatizedperfect
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has been dramatizingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are dramatizingprogressive
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is dramatizingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been dramatizingperfect progressive
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am dramatizingprogressive 1st person singular
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dramatizessingular 3rd person
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dramatizingparticiple
Past
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had dramatizedperfect
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had been dramatizingperfect progressive
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were dramatizingprogressive plural
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was dramatizingprogressive singular
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dramatizedparticiple
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dramatizedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of dramatize
Explanation
To dramatize something is to put it in dramatic form (like a TV show or movie) or make it seem more dramatic, using exaggeration. Anytime you see a movie or TV show about real events, the actors are dramatizing what really happened. If you slipped on the sidewalk and hurt your knee a little but later made it sound like the most tragic event in the history of humanity, you're guilty of dramatizing what happened. To dramatize in that way is to exaggerate and embellish — it's something that we all do occasionally.
Vocabulary lists containing dramatize
March: Book Two
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ize
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-ize, List 2
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
