crystallize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to form into crystals; cause to assume crystalline form.
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to give definite or concrete form to.
to crystallize an idea.
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to coat with sugar.
verb (used without object)
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to form crystals; become crystalline in form.
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to assume definite or concrete form.
verb
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to form or cause to form crystals; assume or cause to assume a crystalline form or structure
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to coat or become coated with sugar
crystallized fruit
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to give a definite form or expression to (an idea, argument, etc) or (of an idea, argument, etc) to assume a recognizable or definite form
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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crystallizabilitynoun
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crystallizationnoun
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crystallizernoun
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crystallizableadjective
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noncrystallizableadjective
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noncrystallizedadjective
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noncrystallizingadjective
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uncrystallizableadjective
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uncrystallizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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crystallizesimple
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crystallizessimple
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have crystallizedperfect
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has crystallizedperfect
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am crystallizingprogressive
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are crystallizingprogressive
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is crystallizingprogressive
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have been crystallizingperfect progressive
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has been crystallizingperfect progressive
Past
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crystallizedsimple
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had crystallizedperfect
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was crystallizingprogressive
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were crystallizingprogressive
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had been crystallizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crystallize
Vocabulary lists containing crystallize
Academic Vocabulary, Unit 3
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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:
In an earlier project, Gaston, Lambie, and Steenbergen used liquid gallium to crystallize zinc into intricate `snowflake' structures.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
“Maybe in 24 hours, when things crystallize with the deal.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
“If Rio were to execute the conceptual stream for an upfront cash consideration of around $1.4 billion… it would crystallize around 9% of the asset’s net asset value,” Berenberg says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Even the Piker issue—the one that seems to crystallize so much of the anxiety there—he treated as over-indexed.
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2026
He waited for it to crystallize and show its teeth on the edges of the cool quiet that had pooled in the Waystone.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
“This situation perfectly crystallizes the global nature of infectious diseases,” Bhadelia said.
From MarketWatch ● May 6, 2026
A new AP-NORC poll released this week crystallizes the public’s pessimism.
From Barron's ● Dec. 16, 2025
As he speaks these words, and I’m listening from my seat in the ballroom balcony, something crystallizes.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
As her life up till then closes in a day-lit, stark room, the impact of Satter’s deceptively heavy depiction of the individual against the state crystallizes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2023
The reality crystallizes for me, though, when Dad instructs us to take off our blindfolds and Debbie and Zara are standing in front of us.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
“A lot crystallized in the past year or so.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
"Iron is crystallized in oxide nanoparticles making the cells superparamagnetic and reactive to magnetic fields. We found by far the strongest magnetic response in liver tissue," adds Prof. Ulf Wiedwald, from the University of Duisburg-Essen.
From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026
“So all of these things are having really profound ripple effects. This is a situation where you really are seeing crystallized the need for bio preparedness.”
From Salon ● May 11, 2026
The challenges facing New Zealand’s forces have crystallized recently.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
A hundred million crystallized polio viruses could cover the period at the end of this sentence.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
It also fears crystallizing financial losses on its portfolio by selling bonds, preferring to realize losses slowly by paying more interest on reserves than it earns on bonds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
“To the victor nations go the spoils,” Anton wrote in a 2019 essay in Foreign Policy, crystallizing a worldview that sees international relations as zero-sum competition where might makes right.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2026
Villarreal: “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight” open with these crystallizing moments for the main characters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
There’s always been more to Garrone’s movies than unkindness, but he has a striking facility for crystallizing human baseness in images that are both specific and laden with surplus meaning.
From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2024
So we might want to claim that it is the book—or rather, in this case, the well-stocked library—that transforms the status of experiment; by crystallizing past knowledge, the library makes new knowledge possible.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
