fictionalize

American  

[fik-shuh-nl-ahyz] / ˈfɪk ʃə nlˌaɪz /

especially British, fictionalise

verb (used with object)

fictionalized, fictionalizing

1. to make into fiction; give a somewhat imaginative or fictional version of.

   to fictionalize a biography.

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fictionalize British  

/ ˈfɪkʃənəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. (tr) to make into fiction or give a fictional aspect to

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Other Word Forms

• fictionalization noun
• fictionalizer noun
• semifictionalized adjective

Etymology

Origin of fictionalize

First recorded in 1920–25; fictional ( def. ) + -ize

Example Sentences

But even daring to fictionalize some version of that atrocity raises “Andor” above other spinoffs.

From Salon • Apr. 22, 2025

Noomin waited years after her losses before writing about them, and the conflict between wanting to fictionalize her story and to tell it honestly is dramatized through conversations with an alter ego.

From New York Times • Nov. 22, 2022

Moriarty and Jaci supply each other writing prompts, while claiming first dibs on real-life anecdotes they wish to fictionalize.

From Washington Post • Sep. 9, 2021

I have disagreed with many of the attempts to question her right to fictionalize Mexico’s predicament simply because she long identified as white.

From Slate • Jan. 31, 2020

It was a means by which, if not to erase or delete memory, to splice it, to fictionalize it, and to some degree begin again; and yet he judged consciousness to be even less real.

From An Apostate: Nawin of Thais by Sills, Steven (Steven David Justin)

Related Words

• fabricate