sensationalize
verb (used with object)
to make sensational.
sensationalized
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past participleof sensationalize.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
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past tense formof sensationalize.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
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.
The author explores both the mountain wilderness in which the hikers died and the media wilderness in which their deaths would be sensationalized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
However, some analysts believe Claude Cowork is the latest sensationalized headline feeding into an overly pessimistic narrative of AI eating software.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 15, 2026
TikTok clips, podcasts, and celebrity advocates, including Kim Kardashian, helped reframe their story for younger audiences, highlighting claims of childhood abuse and trauma that were largely overshadowed during their sensationalized trials of the 1990s.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2025
But I think it gives a sensationalized view of the whole ordeal, even though Tisa’s lives stick mostly to what was actually said in the courtroom.
From Slate ● Jun. 10, 2025
The impetus was the publication of a highly sensationalized book, The Hydrogen Bomb: The Men, The Menace, The Mechanism, by journalists James Shepley and Clay Blair Jr., which accepted Teller’s version of events as gospel.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
