dramatize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to put into a form suitable for acting on a stage.
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to express or represent vividly, emotionally, or strikingly.
He dramatizes his woes with sobs and sighs.
verb (used without object)
verb
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(tr) to put into dramatic form
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to express or represent (something) in a dramatic or exaggerated way
he dramatizes his illness
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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dramatizernoun
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overdramatizeverb
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dramatizableadjective
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undramatizableadjective
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undramatizedadjective
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well-dramatizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dramatizesimple
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dramatizessimple
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have dramatizedperfect
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has dramatizedperfect
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am dramatizingprogressive
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are dramatizingprogressive
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is dramatizingprogressive
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have been dramatizingperfect progressive
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has been dramatizingperfect progressive
Past
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dramatizedsimple
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had dramatizedperfect
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was dramatizingprogressive
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were dramatizingprogressive
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had been dramatizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dramatize
Explanation
To dramatize something is to put it in dramatic form (like a TV show or movie) or make it seem more dramatic, using exaggeration. Anytime you see a movie or TV show about real events, the actors are dramatizing what really happened. If you slipped on the sidewalk and hurt your knee a little but later made it sound like the most tragic event in the history of humanity, you're guilty of dramatizing what happened. To dramatize in that way is to exaggerate and embellish — it's something that we all do occasionally.
Vocabulary lists containing dramatize
March: Book Two
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ize
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-ize, List 2
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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:
As Frederica observes, the “intrinsic problem in writing about artists” is how to dramatize the “battle with the colors and forms.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
It is a fine line since law ads can dramatize, but they are not allowed to promise results or payouts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2025
Sophocles’ “Antigone” and Euripides’ “Suppliant Women” dramatize tensions between personal morality, state power and democratic rights.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2025
Such data dramatize the growing risks of outburst floods, says Irfan Rashid, a climate scientist at Kashmir University.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 2, 2024
So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition....
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
Along one wall, a 19th-century trompe l’oeil screen dramatizes the classical gentlemanly taste that dominated among Neo-Confucian elites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
That shaving scene referenced earlier dramatizes why this and other supposedly neutral policies painfully disfavor some people without diving into a medical manual.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2025
That spirit of fellowship prompted Taylor to join an experimental theater production that dramatizes the neighborhood’s distinct character and explores the complexities of its demise: “Displacement: Stories From Section 14.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2024
The play, by Jack Thorne, dramatizes a fraught backstage relationship between Richard Burton and John Gielgud as they rehearse a Broadway production.
From New York Times ● Mar. 12, 2024
It dramatizes sound with unique artistic rhythm and design.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Rick Cole, a former deputy mayor of L.A., said the DSA label for both candidates doesn’t mean they’ll adhere to the most dramatized versions of what DSA stands for.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Here’s what is true and what is dramatized in “Pressure.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
The playwrights of Athens dramatized the tragic tales of kings, including Xerxes of Persia, whose overweening ambitions led the rulers to ruin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
Melies ended up as a toy seller in Paris’ Gare Montparnasse train station -- a story that was dramatized in Martin Scorsese’s 2011 film, "Hugo."
From Barron's ● Apr. 13, 2026
A reciprocal relationship between people and clergy is dramatized as the congregation takes an active role in the recitation of the mass.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
The costly behind-the-scenes chaos illustrates the risks in dramatizing the life of a controversial real person.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
Why was it important to you to tell this story as a documentary versus dramatizing it?
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2024
When Romeo was in fifth grade, he and a friend performed in a school skit, dramatizing a page from her life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2024
And this is among Kidman’s finest and most chameleonic work, expertly dramatizing both a woman in disarray and the circumstances that got her there.
From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
The symbolism of the scene was poignant, dramatizing as it did the passing of the prototypical American and the cause of gradual emancipation.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
