fictionalize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fictionalize
First recorded in 1920–25; fictional ( def. ) + -ize
Explanation
To fictionalize is to take a true story and change the details so it's not literally accurate. When you write your first novel, you might simply fictionalize the family tales your grandparents have told you. When you fictionalize something, you transform a factual story into fiction. A lot of writers use this technique to turn their own experiences and real people they know into interesting stories. If you're writing a story for school about the time your friend forged a note from his mom to excuse his absence, you might decide to fictionalize him so he doesn't get in trouble. Fictionalize comes from a Latin root, fingere, "to shape or form."
Vocabulary lists containing fictionalize
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.
See Examples For:
“Hacks” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” successfully fictionalize such frustrations, as the tribute acknowledges by opening with “Hacks” star Jean Smart’s pre-recorded reflections on the late comedian’s influence.
From Salon ● May 14, 2025
Here’s a look at shows that fictionalize ways in which brain-infecting viruses, unchecked carbon dioxide and hucksterism could determine whether the world ends with a bang or a whimper.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2023
“I was very excited to pick it apart and figure out what we wanted to fictionalize to push this story forward,” he said.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 4, 2022
Seeking to cover 16 years in little more than two hours, they condense or flat-out fictionalize with a wink.
From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 2021
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)
Prosecutors allege that Matar was motivated by a fatwa that Ayatollah Khomeini, then leader of Iran, issued in 1989 following Rushdie's depiction of a fictionalized Prophet Muhammad in his novel "The Satanic Verses."
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
In “Cast Away,” Francesca de Tores offers a fictionalized account of Selkirk’s tale.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Perrotti said the scene is fictionalized but mirrors a similar experience they had early in their own relationship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Before this, Irving had begun his project of myth-building with a mischievously fictionalized history of New York published under the name Diedrich Knickerbocker—a pseudonym that lives on with the city’s basketball team.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
It's basically Tiny's slightly fictionalized life story, except it is sung, and it is—I mean, I don't use this adjective lightly—the gayest single musical in all of human history.
From "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan
The narrator decides to write a novel fictionalizing the surveyor’s account, shame be damned—“And yet, let them scorn me as they will, strong traits of their nature have intertwined themselves with mine.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
It also drew a blank when asked for a speech from George Santos, the New York Republican congressman who was caught fictionalizing his past.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 6, 2023
It also drew a blank when asked for a speech from George Santos, the new Republican congressman from New York who was caught fictionalizing his past.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 6, 2023
And it’s uncommon for producers to involve the people whose lives they are fictionalizing.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2023
And also my conflicted feelings about what I was doing with Hana's story in fictionalizing it, and about mythologizing my father on the page.
From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2022
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.
