fictionalize
verb
fic·tion·al·ize ˈfik-shnə-ˌlīz 
-shə-nə-ˌlīz
fictionalized; fictionalizing
transitive verb
: to make into or treat in the manner of fiction
fictionalize a biography
fictionalization
ˌfik-shnə-lə-ˈzā-shən
noun -shə-nə-lə-
Example Sentences
The book is a fictionalized account of their travels. Her books are based in fact, but she fictionalizes many of the events.
Recent Examples on the Web The show, which premieres Wednesday on Freeform, is a decent little sitcom that finds an effective way to frame and fictionalize its star, writes television critic Robert Lloyd. 
Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2022 Shiryaev’s enhancements fictionalize certain aspects of a scene that are unknowable a century after the film was shot. Matt Simon, Wired, 12 Aug. 2020 Is fictionalizing certain elements of your life in the stories in Screen Tests a way of complicating this? Tobias Carroll, Longreads, 25 July 2019 Johnson has been fictionalized before, but this time, viewers see an older version after a decade behind bars for drug conspiracy. CBS News, 28 Sep. 2019 A century later, Albinati has fictionalized the crime his classmates committed and elaborated on it in the language of broad-brush cultural criticism. Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2019 The story in Friday’s Eagle by Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News, a story marred by a number of factual errors, did at least reveal clearly that Jim Bouton’s instinct for self-pity and tendency to fictionalize history is still intact. Tom Hoffarth, latimes.com, 14 July 2019 In turn, Time magazine (which, like Life, was owned by Time Inc.), accused O Cruzeiro of fictionalizing its New York images. Los Angeles Times, 19 July 2019 The filmmaker, Joe Talbot, fictionalized a very real problem. Collier Meyerson, WIRED, 6 June 2019 See More
Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2022 Shiryaev’s enhancements fictionalize certain aspects of a scene that are unknowable a century after the film was shot. Matt Simon, Wired, 12 Aug. 2020 Is fictionalizing certain elements of your life in the stories in Screen Tests a way of complicating this? Tobias Carroll, Longreads, 25 July 2019 Johnson has been fictionalized before, but this time, viewers see an older version after a decade behind bars for drug conspiracy. CBS News, 28 Sep. 2019 A century later, Albinati has fictionalized the crime his classmates committed and elaborated on it in the language of broad-brush cultural criticism. Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2019 The story in Friday’s Eagle by Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News, a story marred by a number of factual errors, did at least reveal clearly that Jim Bouton’s instinct for self-pity and tendency to fictionalize history is still intact. Tom Hoffarth, latimes.com, 14 July 2019 In turn, Time magazine (which, like Life, was owned by Time Inc.), accused O Cruzeiro of fictionalizing its New York images. Los Angeles Times, 19 July 2019 The filmmaker, Joe Talbot, fictionalized a very real problem. Collier Meyerson, WIRED, 6 June 2019 See More Word History
Etymology
fictional + -ize
First Known Use
1918, in the meaning defined above