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
- dramatizable adjective
- dramatizer noun
- overdramatize verb
- undramatizable adjective
- undramatized adjective
- well-dramatized adjective
Etymology
Origin of dramatize
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.
Lighting design by Manuel Da Silva, the group’s production manager, provided pools and shafts of illumination to dramatize the darkened stage.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2026
Sophocles’ “Antigone” and Euripides’ “Suppliant Women” dramatize tensions between personal morality, state power and democratic rights.
From Salon • Apr. 13, 2025
This sharply psychological work uses the two-character format to dramatize a dance of fractured identities.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 12, 2025
Such data dramatize the growing risks of outburst floods, says Irfan Rashid, a climate scientist at Kashmir University.
From Science Magazine • Dec. 2, 2024
“We Communists don’t dramatize Negro nationalism,” he said in a voice that laughed, accused, and drawled.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
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.
