atomize

American  

[at-uh-mahyz] / ˈæt əˌmaɪz /

especially British, atomise

verb (used with object)

• atomizes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• atomized,
  past participle,  past
• atomizing
  present participle

1. to reduce to atoms.

2. to reduce to fine particles or spray.

3. to destroy (a target) by bombing, especially with an atomic bomb.

4. to split into smaller parts, sections, groups, factions, etc..

   Principles of freedom and individual liberty encouraged the economic individualism that atomized the nation and destroyed social responsibility.

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verb (used without object)

• atomizes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• atomized,
  past participle,  past
• atomizing
  present participle

1. to split into smaller units; fragment.

   Critics say the group has atomized around several leaders.

atomize British  

/ ˈætəˌmaɪz /

verb

1. to separate or be separated into free atoms

2. to reduce (a liquid or solid) to fine particles or spray or (of a liquid or solid) to be reduced in this way

3. (tr) to destroy by weapons, esp nuclear weapons

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• atomization
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• atomizing
  present
• atomized
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• atomize
  simple
• atomizes
  simple
• have atomized
  perfect
• has atomized
  perfect
• am atomizing
  progressive
• are atomizing
  progressive
• is atomizing
  progressive
• have been atomizing
  perfect progressive
• has been atomizing
  perfect progressive

Past

• atomized
  simple
• had atomized
  perfect
• was atomizing
  progressive
• were atomizing
  progressive
• had been atomizing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will atomize
  simple
• will have atomized
  perfect
• will be atomizing
  progressive
• will have been atomizing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of atomize

First recorded in 1670–80; atom + -ize

Explanation

To atomize something is to transform it into a fine spray. A perfume bottle atomizes your cologne so you can spritz it on your neck. When a substance is lightly sprayed, something needs to atomize it first. Atomize can also mean breaking something into small pieces or units: "Graduating from college seemed to atomize her group of friends, separating and spreading them across the country." In the 1840s, atomize meant "reduce to atoms," and by 1865 it also meant "reduce to a fine mist." It comes from the Latin atomus, "indivisible particle," from the Greek root atomos, "indivisible, uncut."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

atomize atomizes atomized atomizing

Others, like Vance, have warned that AI has the potential to further atomize society and alienate individuals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

Binge-watching and the content boom helped atomize American culture.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2022

When you’re in the big city, you can atomize, right?

From The Verge ● May 31, 2018

This may change things or it could completely atomize the island once and for all.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2017

Q. Are you aware that in course of time the atomizer port will become worn too large and will discharge too large a volume of steam to properly atomize, and the remedy?

From The Traveling Engineers' Association To Improve The Locomotive Engine Service of American Railroads by Anonymous

Focusing on individual privacy protections isolates and atomizes us, however, while power rests in collective bodies.

From Slate ● Jan. 28, 2022

The company spent the past five years engineering a showerhead that atomizes water, creating tiny droplets the company says cover 10 times more surface area than a normal shower to.

From Time ● Aug. 11, 2015

Lawrence; "Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It" is not about yoga; "Zona" reflectively atomizes the film "Stalker" by Andrei Tarkovsky. 

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2015

"Spidermann" is a self-described "hastily constructed abstract musical" that atomizes the premise and logic of the Marvel Comics superhero.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 21, 2011

It's that music can evaporate blue moods even as it atomizes them.

From Time Magazine Archive

In its most recent season, “60 Minutes” attracted an average of more than 9 million viewers External link per show, an anomaly in today’s atomized media environment.

From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026

Alexis de Tocqueville warned that without voluntary associations—churches, civic groups, local organizations—individuals would become atomized and government would fill the vacuum with what he called “soft despotism.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026

But as the audience continues to be atomized by the growing number of streaming options, sports are more valuable than ever for advertisers who want to reach a mass audience.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2025

Under such a paradigm history must be sterilized of analysis and ultimately atomized into unrelated instances to make an eternal present, divorced from any transformative potential.

From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2025

Everything was turned to a fine, atomized dust that hung suspended in the air for a second before slowly settling to earth.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

The New York Times is “disbanding” its sports department, atomizing the staff and pushing readers to pay extra for sports coverage by The Athletic, a money-losing news startup it bought last year for $550 million.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 12, 2023

As Rushkoff puts it: "those of us without the funding to disown our humanity. . . don't have to use technology in such antisocial, atomizing ways."

From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2020

“U.S. culture is extremely atomizing, especially in terms of how suburban neighborhoods and apartment buildings work,” they said.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 16, 2020

Others point to the atomizing effects of the internet on inter-human relations.

From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2018

The atomizing method carried to its logical extreme demands that not only 'sensations' but also 'thoughts' should be essentially disconnected, and then, of course, no thinking can cohere.

From Pragmatism by D. L. Murray