ionize
Americanverb
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To give an atom or group of atoms a net electric charge by adding or removing one or more electrons.
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To form ions in a substance. Lightning ionizes air, for example.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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ionizationnoun
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ionizernoun
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self-ionizationnoun
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ionizableadjective
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nonionizedadjective
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nonionizingadjective
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unionizedadjective
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ununionizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ionizesimple
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ionizessimple
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have ionizedperfect
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has ionizedperfect
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am ionizingprogressive
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are ionizingprogressive
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is ionizingprogressive
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have been ionizingperfect progressive
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has been ionizingperfect progressive
Past
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ionizedsimple
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had ionizedperfect
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was ionizingprogressive
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were ionizingprogressive
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had been ionizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ionize
Vocabulary lists containing ionize
Physics - High School
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Electromagnetic Radiation - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
By carefully controlling the laser's power and beam diameter, the researchers can ionize a narrow region of air, stripping electrons from atoms and molecules to produce plasma.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2026
In minutes, sunlight would ionize the material, creating a plasma barrier that would flow to the day-side of the magnetosphere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
It then produces a second shock wave as it barrels into the galaxy again, which could ionize more oxygen atoms and explain the unusual production of OII light.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 8, 2024
Gamma rays ionize atoms in this way, so it seems very likely that this blast physically affected out planet’s atmosphere, though only mildly and briefly.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 21, 2022
Now this accumulation of negative electricity will produce a large electric force on the anode side; this will drive corpuscles forward with great velocity and ionize the gas.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 8 "Conduction, Electric" by Various
In the middle of the BioCharger, within the geometric, connected plates of glass, is a Tesla coil, which ionizes the surrounding 12 glass tubes that hold six noble gases, the gases in the earth’s atmosphere.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Either electrical current from divertors or from microwaves ionizes the gas, igniting an electrically charged plasma ring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
Stellar winds from the brightest and hottest young stars have carved out these cavities, while ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding gas.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 11, 2024
The laser light ionizes some air, which then works like a lens to further focus the light into a long “filament” the width of a hair.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 16, 2023
The retrogression gun ionizes animal tissue, nerve cells particularly.
From Forget Me Nearly by F. L. (Floyd L.) Wallace
As more hydrogen became ionized, ultraviolet light could travel much farther through intergalactic space.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
The researchers also found two regions where the ionized hydrogen glow was particularly bright.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
By comparison, the ionized gas of the ionosphere accounts for less than 1 percent of the atmosphere.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
Within minutes, sunlight transforms this material into an ionized gas shield that slows the oncoming massive blob of plasma.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Then I realized that the phosphate groups in Linus’ model were not ionized, but that each group contained a bound hydrogen atom and so had no net charge.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
Galaxies with the fastest winds allowed the smallest fraction of ionizing radiation to escape.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
During this era, the first generations of stars and galaxies were reshaping the cosmos by ionizing hydrogen gas between galaxies.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026
MRI did what X-rays couldn't do: See soft tissue without using ionizing radiation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Ultrasound is non-invasive, does not use ionizing radiation and has no known harmful effects.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2025
Remember how ionizing radiation breaks apart the bonds in molecules?
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
