romanticize

verb

ro·​man·​ti·​cize rō-ˈman-tə-ˌsīz 

rə-

romanticized; romanticizing

transitive verb

: to make romantic : treat as idealized or heroic

romanticize the past

intransitive verb

1

: to hold romantic ideas

2

: to present details, incidents, or people in a romantic way

The book romanticized military life.

romanticization

rō-ˌman-tə-sə-ˈzā-shən 

rə-

noun

Synonyms of romanticize

• idealize
• glamorize

Examples of romanticize in a Sentence

He has romanticized notions of army life.

a romanticized view of politics

We were romanticizing about the past.

Recent Examples on the Web

Both distrust markets, both want to micromanage industry, both are protectionist, both romanticize manufacturing work and resent the disruptions that come from open global competition. —Veronique De Rugy, Oc Register, 4 Dec. 2025

Pop culture has been so stuck in a mode of romanticizing pioneers and settlers that American Primeval, with its insistence on diving into Mormon history and rejecting the idea that violence in the name of gaining power is justified, feels like a balancing of the scales. —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025

Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams, a gorgeous, somber movie adapted from Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella and set largely in early 20th century Idaho, doesn’t romanticize the hardscrabble Americans who struggled to make America great the first time around. —Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 21 Nov. 2025

This is your cue to romanticize your own life, Scorpio. —Dossé-Via Trenou, Refinery29, 2 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1818, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for romanticize

• actualize
• antagonize
• apologise
• apologize
• capitalize
• categorize
• characterize
• commercialize
• conceptualize
• contrariwise
• criminalize
• decentralize

Kids Definition

romanticize

verb

ro·​man·​ti·​cize rō-ˈmant-ə-ˌsīz 

romanticized; romanticizing

1

: to make romantic : show in a romantic way

2

: to have romantic ideas

romanticization

-ˌmant-ə-sə-ˈzā-shən 

noun