To portray or regard something in an idealized romantic way.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- romanticize the past
- romanticize a figure
On the page
The account romanticized the past by omitting its recorded constraints.
The revision avoided romanticizing the figure without removing every admirable quality.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- romanticize
- Past tense
- romanticized
- Past participle
- romanticized
- Present participle
- romanticizing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- romanticize
- Present continuous
- am/is/are romanticizing
- Present perfect
- have/has romanticized
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been romanticizing
- Past
- romanticized
- Past continuous
- was/were romanticizing
- Past perfect
- had romanticized
- Past perfect continuous
- had been romanticizing
- Future
- will romanticize
- Future continuous
- will be romanticizing
- Future perfect
- will have romanticized
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been romanticizing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: romanticize; romanticizes; romanticized; romanticized; romanticizing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: artistic orientation, figurative interpretation, life writing, narrative knowledge. Disciplines: literary writing, literary analysis, advanced general English. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: romanticizes.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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