granulate

American  

[gran-yuh-layt] / ˈgræn jəˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

granulated, granulating

1. to form into granules or grains.

2. to raise in granules; make rough on the surface.

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verb (used without object)

granulated, granulating

1. to become granular or grainy.

2. Pathology. to form granulation tissue.

granulate British  

/ ˈɡrænjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to make into grains

2. to make or become roughened in surface texture

3. (intr) (of a wound, ulcer, etc) to form granulation tissue

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Other Word Forms

• granulater
  noun
• granulator
  noun
• granulative
  adjective
• multigranulated
  adjective
• nongranulated
  adjective
• ungranulated
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of granulate

First recorded in 1660–70; granule + -ate ¹

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Explanation

Granulate means to form or reduce into grains. You've probably seen the word on a box of granulated sugar and not thought twice about the fact that, besides its granular form, sugar exists as a liquid and also inside sugar cane. Sugar, of course, is not a grain. A grain is rice, wheat, quinoa, corn––seeds that form the basis of most people's diets. Sugar forms grains when it's refined, appearing in its crystallized form to have a grain-like, or granulated, appearance.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

granulate granulated granulating

Meanwhile, Enviroo recently secured £58m to build a new recycling facility in the north-west of England, specialising in converting PET drink bottles into a recycled granulate that can be used in food packaging.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2025

And if honey does granulate it is still perfectly fine to eat.

From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2023

For well owners receiving Army assistance, the long-term plans for the taxpayer-financed cleanup range from installing granulate activated filtration systems to drilling deeper wells that could tap into PFAS-free water.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 23, 2022

For the A3, 45 bottles are used, ground up to create a granulate that is turned into a polyester yarn, accounting for 89 percent of the seat material.

From New York Times ● Sep. 9, 2021

It is then deposited on great wooden tables to cool, and granulate into complete crystals of about the size of a pin's head.

From Celebrated Women Travellers of the Nineteenth Century by W. H. Davenport Adams

My House Spice, which I use on pretty much everything, is my mother’s recipe, a Creole and Cajun spice blend with salt, pepper, granulated onion and garlic, cayenne and paprika.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

The report specified that the “foreign objects” in question are black plastic planting material found in granulated onion used to make the dressing.

From Salon ● Dec. 19, 2025

I use a frother, and a little bit of granulated monk fruit sugar on top.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2025

Rock hard, they are granulated then infused with a secret marinade of ingredients from the list above, before being roasted to create new flavours, aromas and compounds.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2024

Back then the only things Mama purchased from the store were coffee beans, granulated sugar, salt, and pepper.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

Same as White, except color Red in the basin before granulating it.

From Frye's Practical Candy Maker Comprising Practical Receipts for the Manufacture of Fine "Hand-Made" Candies by George V. Frye

It is then taken to the granulating room, where it is first passed through sieves or perforations, which break up the mass into little pieces like shot.

From Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise by P. Gerald (Percy Gerald) Sanford

Even the fluid from a blister, in virtue of the isolated cells of the rete Malpighii which it contains, is capable of starting epithelial growth on a granulating surface.

From Manual of Surgery Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. by Alexis Thomson

The man then rapidly improved; the bile-stained discharge ceased at the end of five weeks, and a small granulating wound eventually closed at the end of two months, when the man returned to England.

From Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small Calibre by George Henry Makins

It is difficult, if not impossible, to so conduct them as to avoid opening up afresh recent granulating wounds.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various

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