romanticize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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
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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
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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:
But lately, I’ve been thinking about something: Everybody wants to romanticize the pantry.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
“It’s easy to romanticize it, to say, ‘I want to live among the locals.’
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Sander does not romanticize, valorize or flatter them: The even lighting comes from an overcast sky; they are dressed in dark suits and hats, one smokes a cigarette, and each sports a cane.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026
"It's fascinating that something hundreds of years old could so closely match what is around today and contrast so much with what people romanticize the past landscape to be."
From Science Daily ● Feb. 1, 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 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
Gurr speaks with a mix of humor, directness and curiousity, eager to share stories but also not someone who overly romanticizes them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 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
Licolli, the poultry organizer, said she has “never romanticized the immigrant community and the immigrant movement.”
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2026
The pitch for the theme park was to show the Golden State as a romanticized destination, celebrating our people, our nature, our food and our glamour through a lighthearted, optimistic lens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2026
She also felt “untethered” from her college friends who, she writes, romanticized her time with revolutionaries as “far out” and “cool.”
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
“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
"We are not romanticizing poverty. We want to change the prejudice that exists in people's minds."
From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026
The historic Egmont was a Flemish general, a hero to his people in the Netherlands who attempts to serve the 16th century Spanish emperor, Philip II, and rife for Goethe’s romanticizing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 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 that romanticizing sick artists perpetuates this thing that’s super negative, especially for women,” Gaga said.
From Salon ● Mar. 12, 2025
How ridiculous that he’d still be romanticizing her in these final hours.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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.
