mythologize

American  

[mi-thol-uh-jahyz] / mɪˈθɒl əˌdʒaɪz /

especially British, mythologise

verb (used without object)

mythologized, mythologizing

1. to classify, explain, or write about myths.

2. to construct or narrate myths.

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verb (used with object)

mythologized, mythologizing

1. to make into or explain as a myth; make mythical.

mythologize British  

/ mɪˈθɒləˌdʒaɪz /

verb

1. to tell, study, or explain (myths)

2. (intr) to create or make up myths

3. (tr) to convert into a myth

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Other Word Forms

• mythologer noun
• mythologization noun
• mythologizer noun

Etymology

Origin of mythologize

1595–1605; mytholog(y) + -ize; compare French mythologiser

Example Sentences

The preferred ritual is to scream victory, hog the moment, call out the haters and mythologize group success as some kind of personal drama.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

Although they had already sought to mythologize in the past the supposedly noble sacrifice of Nazi activists killed in street fighting, Wessel was the first to be elevated to supreme martyr status.

From Salon • Sep. 28, 2025

Adriana Romanko, a psychotherapist who leads a volunteer group that supplies the military, UAID, said it was natural for an embattled society to mythologize its defenders in a fight for survival.

From Reuters • Oct. 4, 2023

The coinage was as durable as it was instant, “using religious terminology to almost mythologize a sporting event,” said Anne Madarasz, chief historian and director of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 19, 2022

If, since we are discussing a metaphysical issue,431 we must mythologize, we might call it the "will to self-expression."

From Creative Intelligence Essays in the Pragmatic Attitude by Bode, Boyd H.