Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1863, from sensational + -ize. Originally of audiences as well as topics. Related: Sensationalized; sensationalizing.
Wiktionary
alt. (label en American spelling Oxford) To glorify or inflate the importance of a piece of news; to artificially create a sensation. vb. (label en American spelling Oxford) To glorify or inflate the importance of a piece of news; to artificially create a sensation.
Usage examples of "sensationalize".
He wondered how much of what he had said would reach the public undistorted, and how much would emerge in garbled and sensationalized form.
The murders were the lead story, of course, and the sensationalized coverage lasted for several minutes.
The writer seemed to know what he was talking about, and he mentioned mercenaries from half a dozen different nationalities, neither overpraising them nor sensationalizing their careers to set spines atingling.
In 1929 a few critics accused Remarque of sensationalizing the war in chapters like this one, of deliberately trying to shock readers to sell more books.
At the same time, the object was not to become a feature of the general mass-media circus, which reveled in sensationalizing the wild and preposterous and usually represented a fast way to getting a far-out but genuine claim discounted by association.
No matter how straitened a man's circumstances, many believed, he did not attempt to enrich himself by sensationalizing the sufferings of his own people.