anneal

[uh-neel]

verb (used with object)

1. to heat (glass, earthenware, metals, etc.) to remove or prevent internal stress.

2. to free from internal stress by heating and gradually cooling.

3. to toughen or temper.

4. Biochemistry.,  to recombine (nucleic acid strands) at low temperature after separating by heat.

5. to fuse colors onto (a vitreous or metallic surface) by heating.

noun

1. an act, instance, or product of annealing.

anneal

/ əˈniːl /

verb

1. to temper or toughen (something) by heat treatment

2. to subject to or undergo some physical treatment, esp heating, that removes internal stress, crystal defects, and dislocations

3. (tr) to toughen or strengthen (the will, determination, etc)

4. (often foll by out) physics to disappear or cause to disappear by a rearrangement of atoms

   defects anneal out at different temperatures

noun

1. an act of annealing

Other Word Forms

• annealer noun
• unannealed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of anneal¹

before 1000; Middle English anelen, Old English anǣlan to kindle, equivalent to an- on + ǣlan to burn, akin to āl fire

Word History and Origins

Origin of anneal¹

Old English onǣlan, from _on + ǣlan to burn, from āl fire

Example Sentences

Through a rapid thermal annealing process, the team formed a highly curved graphene structure with controlled pathways that allow ions to move with exceptional speed and efficiency.

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That said, producing these cells involves high-temperature annealing and tricky post-treatment steps, significantly slowing fabrication and making it hard to incorporate them into everyday items.

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They used a thermal annealing process, exposing the film to air at 85 degrees Celsius for 24 hours.

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However, when COPs involve constraints, conventional quantum algorithms like adiabatic quantum annealing struggle to obtain a near-optimal solution within the operation time of quantum computers.

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The Rice University lab of nanotechnology pioneer Naomi Halas has uncovered a transformative approach to harnessing the catalytic power of aluminum nanoparticles by annealing them in various gas atmospheres at high temperatures.

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