anneal

American  

[uh-neel] / əˈnil /

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.

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noun

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

anneal British  

/ 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

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noun

1. an act of annealing

Other Word Forms

• annealer noun
• unannealed adjective

Etymology

Origin of anneal

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

Explanation

When you anneal metal or glass, you heat it and then cool it in order to make it less brittle and more malleable. Metallurgists — engineers who specialize in the properties and uses of metals — have to know a variety of methods used to anneal different kinds of metals. You can also anneal glass, to make it stronger and to help keep it from shattering.

Example Sentences

The foreign DNA and vector are allowed to anneal.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

The tone of the letter seems, to this reader, overly filled with shame, but it works to anneal the injury.

From New York Times • Nov. 12, 2021

But in the alkaline waters of these springs, the carbonate in the water will anneal to the shell of a snail, causing snail shells to grow increasingly heavy and unwieldy.

From Scientific American • Dec. 23, 2017

Pronk, S. & Frenkel, D. Can stacking faults in hard-sphere crystals anneal out spontaneously?

From Nature • Nov. 7, 2017

Perhaps Rekh would now let him make leaves every day, perhaps allow him to anneal wire, spread solder just so on the boxes, and learn and become skillful.

From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw