carbonize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to char (organic matter) until it forms carbon.
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to coat or enrich with carbon.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to turn or be turned into carbon as a result of heating, fossilization, chemical treatment, etc
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(tr) to enrich or coat (a substance) with carbon
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(intr) to react or unite with carbon
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of carbonize
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:
With the right equipment, we all have the ability to sous vide, slap chop, air fry, spiralize, carbonize and even slice our own bananas.
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2014
He began to carbonize everything in nature that he could lay hands on.
From Edison, His Life and Inventions by Dyer, Frank Lewis
Of course, the method employed to carbonize the materials is suspectible of variation, but the scientific principles involved are unchangeable, viz.:
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 601, July 9, 1887 by Various
When the dust thus produced begins to carbonize, the pressure and velocity are increased.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 392, July 7, 1883 by Various
Then coal and ore were arranged in heaps and in successive layers, as the charcoal-burner does with the wood which he wishes to carbonize.
From The Mysterious Island by Verne, Jules
His winning edge was the carbonized bamboo filament he pioneered shortly after his initial 1879 breakthrough, providing the longevity needed to turn a novelty into a utility.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Later, she drives through a part of the forest that burned the year before to see “mile upon mile of carbonized trees and denuded earth, a now-familiar scene of extinguished life.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2025
None of these substances were found outside the skull, in the volcanic ash in which the carbonized, skeletal remains were buried.
From Salon ● Mar. 4, 2025
"The peculiar preservation of Tridentinosaurus had puzzled experts for decades. Now, it all makes sense. What it was described as carbonized skin, is just paint."
From Science Daily ● Feb. 16, 2024
The black wave of the army ants was sweeping into the fire, sweeping into the incredible heat of that carbonized material burning with an open flame.
From The Mad Planet by Leinster, Murray
Carbon with its extremely high melting-point had long attracted attention and in 1879 Edison produced a carbon filament by carbonizing a strip of paper.
From Artificial Light Its Influence upon Civilization by Luckiesh, Matthew
For the complete removal of all foreign vegetable substances from wool the most effective process is carbonizing, in which the burs, etc., are burned out by means of acid and a high degree of heat.
From Textiles For Commercial, Industrial, and Domestic Arts Schools; Also Adapted to Those Engaged in Wholesale and Retail Dry Goods, Wool, Cotton, and Dressmaker's Trades by Dooley, William H. (William Henry)
The spent gases are vented to insure the greatest speed in carbonizing.
From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)
The pins are then allowed to cool slowly from the carbonizing heat, after which the hole is finish-machined and the pin cut to length.
From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)
Good results are obtained by packing the steel in iron boxes or tubes, much as for case-hardening or carbonizing, using the same materials.
From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
