as in idealizing
to represent or think of as better than reality would warrant
he romanticized what life in a small town would be like, only to be later disappointed when reality intruded
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Recent Examples of romanticizing
Though winter brings shorter days and frosty weather, a trip to the slopes has a way of romanticizing the season.
—
Mecca Pryor, Essence, 8 Jan. 2026
Nothing wrong with a little fantasy, but this year’s astrology asks us to stop romanticizing potential and start paying attention to what feels genuine, reciprocal and enduring.
—Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 7 Jan. 2026
Consumers are remixing the past, romanticizing the everyday, even repurposing sportswear—all new ideas that require old items.
—Alexandra Harrell, Sourcing Journal, 22 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
That’s 14 years of dreaming, dissolving, romanticizing, escaping, and sometimes deceiving ourselves.
—Dossé-Via Trenou, Refinery29, 19 Oct. 2025
The new book suggests that human beings have always been declinist, underselling the riches of the present and romanticizing what earlier generations merely made do with.
—Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
Even the preceding work of distinguished white male photographers like William Henry Jackson and Lee Moorhouse participated in this romanticizing project.
—Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
So The Paper treats journalism as aspirational — Ned describes over-romanticizing as one of his main faults.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2025
Mecca Pryor, Essence, 8 Jan. 2026
Nothing wrong with a little fantasy, but this year’s astrology asks us to stop romanticizing potential and start paying attention to what feels genuine, reciprocal and enduring.
—Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 7 Jan. 2026
Consumers are remixing the past, romanticizing the everyday, even repurposing sportswear—all new ideas that require old items.
—Alexandra Harrell, Sourcing Journal, 22 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
That’s 14 years of dreaming, dissolving, romanticizing, escaping, and sometimes deceiving ourselves.
—Dossé-Via Trenou, Refinery29, 19 Oct. 2025
The new book suggests that human beings have always been declinist, underselling the riches of the present and romanticizing what earlier generations merely made do with.
—Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
Even the preceding work of distinguished white male photographers like William Henry Jackson and Lee Moorhouse participated in this romanticizing project.
—Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
So The Paper treats journalism as aspirational — Ned describes over-romanticizing as one of his main faults.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for romanticizing
Verb
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There’s no wishful thinking that our society will stop idealizing appearance, but framing and intrinsic motivation matter.—
Alexa Mikhail,
Flow Space,
8 Oct. 2025
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There’s a fine line between being crystal clear and idealizing a situation.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
23 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Warfare Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Warfare is an admirable attempt to counter the truism that there’s no such thing as an anti-war movie — that all war movies, however gruesome or wrenching, effectively (and often unwittingly) wind up glamorizing combat to some degree.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
1 Dec. 2025
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Critics have accused Hoover of glamorizing abuse with her novel, which was originally published in 2016.—
Brendan Morrow,
USA Today,
20 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Romanticizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/romanticizing. Accessed 17 Jan. 2026.
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