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dramatize

To dramatize something is to put it in dramatic form (like a TV show or movie) or make it seem more dramatic, using exaggeration.

Anytime you see a movie or TV show about real events, the actors are dramatizing what really happened. If you slipped on the sidewalk and hurt your knee a little but later made it sound like the most tragic event in the history of humanity, you're guilty of dramatizing what happened. To dramatize in that way is to exaggerate and embellish — it's something that we all do occasionally.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: dramatize

1
v
put into dramatic form
2
v
add details to
FULL DEFINITIONS OF: dramatize
1

v put into dramatic form

Synonyms:
adopt, dramatise
Type of:
compose, indite, pen, write
produce a literary work

v represent something in a dramatic manner

“These events dramatize the lack of social responsibility among today's youth”
Synonyms:
dramatise
Types:
overdramatise, overdramatize
present in an overly dramatic manner
Type of:
represent
serve as a means of expressing something
2

v add details to

Synonyms:
aggrandise, aggrandize, blow up, dramatise, embellish, embroider, lard, pad
Types:
glorify
cause to seem more splendid
Type of:
amplify, exaggerate, hyperbolise, hyperbolize, magnify, overdraw, overstate
to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth
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