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
- overromanticize verb
- romanticization noun
- unromanticized adjective
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.
"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
Despite the verve and love each “Rings of Dissent” contributors have in their essays, they don’t romanticize it.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 21, 2025
Through the sepia filter of today, it can be easy to romanticize this tale — a lesbian champion of the arts making the world safe for Modernism.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2025
The author tends to romanticize the game, even at its most brutal.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025
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
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.
