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:
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
There was certainly an exigent need to record, analyze and explain Sept. 11, but it was not at all clear if there was a parallel need to fictionalize Sept. 11.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 5, 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 Steven (Steven David Justin) Sills
“We’re lucky to have our source material be written by one of the most detail-oriented writers of that particular age,” said Rigney, who portrays the fictionalized Ellis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
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
With independent reading, memoirs are big, like “Crying in H Mart” and Sylvia Plath’s fictionalized “The Bell Jar.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to be learned from true history or its fictionalized version dressed up in dragons and magic.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 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
“Her First American,” Segal’s best book, also draws closely from life, but its fictionalizing feels freer and brings out poignant elements of romance and tragicomedy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 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
And it’s uncommon for producers to involve the people whose lives they are fictionalizing.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2023
The pair decided that Tembi Locke’s story of her marriage to an Italian man, over his mother’s resistance to the American interloper, and its aftermath would benefit from fictionalizing the characters.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 29, 2022
That story followed the rise of Viking Ragnar Lodbrok from farmer to king, fictionalizing the exploits of a real figure from history.
From Salon ● Mar. 12, 2022
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