as in to idealize
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 romanticize
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.
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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
See All Example Sentences for romanticize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for romanticize
Verb
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Post-Aristotle, infinity was always idealized, never realized — a philosophical construct at best.—
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For most home cooks, a once-a-year turkey is a gastronomic absurdity, needlessly idealized, inevitably formidable to prepare.—
Verb
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As debate intensified online over whether the show could glorify or glamorize Combs, the discussion spilled into the comments section of Zeus CEO Lemuel Plummer’s social media, prompting him to clarify the network’s intent.—
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Often, fires are depicted in an overly dramatic or glamorized way, but each home represents a person’s life.—
Cite this Entry
“Romanticize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/romanticize. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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