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
“We just decided, ‘We’re not going to fictionalize the Valley.’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 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
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 Steven (Steven David Justin) Sills
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
“If the public is unable to distinguish between actual threats to biodiversity and fictionalized narratives, the perceived urgency to act may diminish,” the researchers wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 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
I don’t want to ask you specifically about that, but rather the creative habit of approaching Lincoln’s life stories from an array of directions including fictionalizing him as a vampire slayer.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2024
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
The Book Review podcast: Alice Elliott Dark discusses her new novel and Katherine Chen talks about fictionalizing Joan of Arc.
From New York Times ● Jul. 10, 2022
“By fictionalizing away my innocence, my total lack of involvement, by erasing the role of the authorities in my wrongful conviction, McCarthy reinforces an image of me as a guilty and untrustworthy person,” Knox wrote.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 30, 2021
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.
