mythologize

American  

[mi-thol-uh-jahyz] / mɪˈθɒl əˌdʒaɪz /

especially British, mythologise

verb (used without object)

mythologized, mythologizing

1. to classify, explain, or write about myths.

2. to construct or narrate myths.

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verb (used with object)

mythologized, mythologizing

1. to make into or explain as a myth; make mythical.

mythologize British  

/ mɪˈθɒləˌdʒaɪz /

verb

1. to tell, study, or explain (myths)

2. (intr) to create or make up myths

3. (tr) to convert into a myth

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Other Word Forms

• mythologer noun
• mythologization noun
• mythologizer noun

Etymology

Origin of mythologize

1595–1605; mytholog(y) + -ize; compare French mythologiser

Explanation

To mythologize is to turn an event into a myth, especially by exaggerating it. Some parents mythologize the story of their child's birth, telling it again and again until it becomes a well-known story. When you talk about the past, or some incident or experience from your life, you can mythologize it by making it slightly more exciting and interesting, and by re-telling the tale over and over. An actual myth becomes well-known through repetition by many people over many years (generations, even). To turn an ordinary event into something of a myth is to mythologize it. The word comes from the Greek mythos, "story, speech, or anything delivered by word of mouth."

Example Sentences

“Lila is complicated, to say the least. She has a great tendency to mythologize her life—not fabricate, and there’s a difference.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

Although they had already sought to mythologize in the past the supposedly noble sacrifice of Nazi activists killed in street fighting, Wessel was the first to be elevated to supreme martyr status.

From Salon • Sep. 28, 2025

The Walt Disney Co. has made a significant effort over the years to mythologize Disney.

From Los Angeles Times • May 2, 2025

Adriana Romanko, a psychotherapist who leads a volunteer group that supplies the military, UAID, said it was natural for an embattled society to mythologize its defenders in a fight for survival.

From Reuters • Oct. 4, 2023

They always reveal the invincible tendency of the masses to mythologize.

From Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals by Sumner, William Graham