emotionalize

American  

[ih-moh-shuh-nl-ahyz] / ɪˈmoʊ ʃə nlˌaɪz /

especially British, emotionalise

verb (used with object)

emotionalized, emotionalizing

1. to make emotional; treat as a matter of emotion.

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emotionalize British  

/ ɪˈməʊʃənəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. (tr) to make emotional; subject to emotional treatment

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Other Word Forms

• de-emotionalize verb (used with object)
• emotionalization noun
• overemotionalize verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of emotionalize

First recorded in 1875–80; emotional + -ize

Example Sentences

The casting of deaf and hearing actors — one to embody and emotionalize a character, the other to sing, speak and jam — fails to harmonize into a resonant or even intelligible interpretation.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 11, 2024

But we anthropomorphize, assuming they emotionalize identically to us, and that’s the mistake.

From National Geographic • Nov. 25, 2017

You've tried to emotionalize what should not be an emotional issue.

From Time Magazine Archive

The case is different when the teacher of fact happens to find in art, in real literature, some picture or detail with which to emotionalize and beautify his fact.

From Literature in the Elementary School by MacClintock, Porter Lander

It would be cruelly unfair, she recognized that, to emotionalize over them—force them.

From The Real Adventure by Crosby, Raymond Moreau