romanticize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
romanticizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
romanticized,
past participle, past
-
romanticizing
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
romanticizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
romanticized,
past participle, past
-
romanticizing
present participle
verb
-
(intr) to think or act in a romantic way
-
(tr) to interpret according to romantic precepts
-
to make or become romantic, as in style
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
romanticizesimple
-
romanticizessimple
-
have romanticizedperfect
-
has romanticizedperfect
-
am romanticizingprogressive
-
are romanticizingprogressive
-
is romanticizingprogressive
-
have been romanticizingperfect progressive
-
has been romanticizingperfect progressive
Past
-
romanticizedsimple
-
had romanticizedperfect
-
was romanticizingprogressive
-
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:
He hopes the early ’80s nostalgia will resonate not just for those who experienced it firsthand, but for young people now who romanticize a smartphone-free existence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 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’s easy to romanticize it, to say, ‘I want to live among the locals.’
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Or maybe it’s just as simple as Bramsen’s assessment: “It’s a very Gen Z thing to romanticize weird situations.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 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
She romanticizes her lover, the Duke disguised as a student, looking in her mirror while applying makeup, as though “Caro Nome” were “I Feel Pretty.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2025
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
“It very much romanticizes the idea of what not only Maori are going through but many Indigenous cultures around the world and almost downplays the suffering,” both from the past and present, Poole said.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 20, 2022
He misses Caroline terribly, and romanticizes her as the ideal woman.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
“Brazil can join the regional transformation that, in recent years, has allowed Latin America to shed its image as a land of romanticized poverty,” Milei said, “and become a synonym for progress.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
The Keith painting is “quintessential California, a romanticized view of the Sierra Nevada range. William Keith, the painter, was friends with John Muir,” Falcone said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
I also love the hot chocolate, and the tuna melt is a special, more romanticized version of the classic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 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
When she thinks of that day, she’s certain she has romanticized it in the way of first loves.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
"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
“I think they’re definitely romanticizing a bit,” she said, “but there is some truth in there.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2025
No doubt there's a long history of Americans romanticizing criminals, going back at least to Jesse James or Billy the Kid, who became icons of the Wild West.
From Salon ● May 31, 2024
“It sounds nice. But do you think you arc romanticizing? ‘The restless grey sea’?”
From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
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.
