romanticize
Americanverb (used with object)
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romanticizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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romanticized,
past participle, past
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romanticizing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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romanticizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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romanticized,
past participle, past
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romanticizing
present participle
verb
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(intr) to think or act in a romantic way
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(tr) to interpret according to romantic precepts
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to make or become romantic, as in style
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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romanticizesimple
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romanticizessimple
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have romanticizedperfect
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has romanticizedperfect
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am romanticizingprogressive
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are romanticizingprogressive
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is romanticizingprogressive
-
have been romanticizingperfect progressive
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has been romanticizingperfect progressive
Past
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romanticizedsimple
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had romanticizedperfect
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was romanticizingprogressive
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were romanticizingprogressive
-
had been romanticizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of romanticize
Explanation
To romanticize is either to put a positive spin on something that wasn’t great or to behave in a romantic way. If you’re sea sick on a cruise and spend the whole time clutching the railing but later say it was the best trip ever, you have romanticized your experience. To romanticize can mean to act in a way that lends itself to romance, such as by buying flowers or making goo-goo eyes. A more common meaning has less to do with romance, but also involves wearing rose-colored glasses. If you romanticize war, you're making it sound like a glorious, beautiful thing. To romanticize is to interpret things that are not glamorous in a glamorous way.
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:
We like to romanticize cooking and call it an art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
But it’s Bracco who keeps the movie honest, making the wronged wife more than a stock character and giving the affair consequences the movie can’t romanticize away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Corey Seemiller told me every generation tends to romanticize the version of young adulthood it experienced while quietly forgetting the parts that weren’t so glamorous.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
The old common-law “hue and cry” is not a model to romanticize; it could be coercive, punitive, and exclusionary.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
It is important to keep in mind, though, that many rappers and hip-hop artists do not aim to glorify or romanticize gangsta life or culture.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
She typically acts unbothered, but on this vulnerable track, she sheds a little light on her lover girl personality as she romanticizes all the ways she wants to build a life with a new man.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
But on the other, he romanticizes the legendary songwriting duo’s friendship out of proportion with the immutable facts of history.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2025
The destroyed North Hangar represents the folly of Orange County, a place that romanticizes its past while letting it rot if there’s no profit to be made.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2023
The teacher, ever the melancholic, romanticizes ancient Greek as a pinnacle of language that has died and toward which he is still vainly striving.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 19, 2023
He misses Caroline terribly, and romanticizes her as the ideal woman.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
Styling is one of those things where I think I romanticized it, as I do everything in life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Family told her to move on and friends romanticized her ordeal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 3, 2026
Its pitch was to show the Golden State as a romanticized destination, one that in the post-Gold Rush era has often given America permission to dream.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026
While home swapping is romanticized in movies like “The Holiday,” the idea of actually letting a stranger stay in your house while you’re not there might feel daunting.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 19, 2026
“Since I’ve known him. If he had any sense, he would’ve tossed out that romanticized idea of her he’s had for so long and gotten to work doing something useful.”
From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia
Herzog depicts the bushmen who aid Boyes as dignified, diligent and intelligent without romanticizing them while capturing the rugged beauty of the African landscape.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 2026
"We are not romanticizing poverty. We want to change the prejudice that exists in people's minds."
From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026
As Ms. Low says, many women need to “stop romanticizing work” and “remember that your employer will never love you back.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025
Witness Beatles fans’ collective romanticizing about “Now and Then,” The Threetles’ posthumous 2023 UK chart-topper, as Lennon’s late 1970s ode to his friendship with McCartney.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2025
How ridiculous that he’d still be romanticizing her in these final hours.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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