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

Derived Forms

• fictionalization
  noun
• semifictionalized
  adjective
• fictionalizer
  noun

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."

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

“We just decided, ‘We’re not going to fictionalize the Valley.’”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 27, 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

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