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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overdramatizeverb
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dramatizernoun
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undramatizableadjective
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undramatizedadjective
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well-dramatizedadjective
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dramatizableadjective
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have dramatizedperfect
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has dramatizedperfect 3rd person singular
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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
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are dramatizingprogressive
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has been dramatizingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
Past
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had dramatizedperfect
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was dramatizingprogressive singular
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had been dramatizingperfect progressive
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dramatizedparticiple
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dramatizedsimple
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were dramatizingprogressive plural
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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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And I think it was interesting to try and find levels to it and to have the audience come with you, but not dramatize or exaggerate an emotion.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026
She bristles when she realizes some dentists are using AI images to upsell patients—deploying color-coded overlays to dramatize borderline findings and justify questionable treatments.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
“I write about things that have happened, and I, in a way, dramatize them by putting music to it.”
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 23, 2025
The Progress Action Fund video doesn’t just dramatize fear.
From Salon • Jun. 19, 2025
So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition....
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
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.
