crystallize

American  

[kris-tl-ahyz] / ˈkrɪs tlˌaɪz /

especially British, crystallise

verb (used with object)

crystallizes, present (3rd person singular) crystallized, past participle, past crystallizing present participle

1. to form into crystals; cause to assume crystalline form.

2. to give definite or concrete form to.

   to crystallize an idea.

3. to coat with sugar.

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verb (used without object)

crystallizes, present (3rd person singular) crystallized, past participle, past crystallizing present participle

1. to form crystals; become crystalline in form.

2. to assume definite or concrete form.

crystallize British  

/ ˈkrɪstəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. to form or cause to form crystals; assume or cause to assume a crystalline form or structure

2. to coat or become coated with sugar

   crystallized fruit

3. 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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• crystallizability
  noun
• crystallization
  noun
• crystallizer
  noun
• crystallizable
  adjective
• noncrystallizable
  adjective
• noncrystallized
  adjective
• noncrystallizing
  adjective
• uncrystallizable
  adjective
• uncrystallized
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• crystallizing
  present
• crystallized
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• crystallize
  simple
• crystallizes
  simple
• have crystallized
  perfect
• has crystallized
  perfect
• am crystallizing
  progressive
• are crystallizing
  progressive
• is crystallizing
  progressive
• have been crystallizing
  perfect progressive
• has been crystallizing
  perfect progressive

Past

• crystallized
  simple
• had crystallized
  perfect
• was crystallizing
  progressive
• were crystallizing
  progressive
• had been crystallizing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will crystallize
  simple
• will have crystallized
  perfect
• will be crystallizing
  progressive
• will have been crystallizing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of crystallize

First recorded in 1590–1600; crystall- + -ize

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

crystallize crystallizes crystallized crystallizing

“Maybe in 24 hours, when things crystallize with the deal.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026

Materials containing magnesium and calcium often form hard, dense crusts when they crystallize.

From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026

“However, the economic and geopolitical environment has become more volatile. And this has made it more likely that a new shock or a combination of shocks could cause several vulnerabilities to crystallize at once.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 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

Then, in mid-March, the data started to crystallize.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

“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 frost crystallizes on the windows, velvet, silk, wool, faux fur and tweeds come to the fore inside.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 1, 2023

In this, “Fellow Travelers” crystallizes the irony at the heart of its title.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 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

This year marks the 20th anniversary of “Love Is My Religion,” the Grammy-winning album that launched his solo career and crystallized a personal philosophy he still carries today.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 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

That vibe crystallized in the first quarter, when products were already pressured by tariffs, and consumer sentiment has taken a nose dive since then.

From MarketWatch ● May 15, 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

Jinny ran to and fro, as quickly as she could, picking up the sweet dark snaps, sticky with crystallized sugar.

From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder

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

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

Researchers leveraged state-of-the-art cryogenic electron microscopy to reveal the structure in its natural state, rather than earlier techniques that required crystallizing vast quantities of identical molecules to form an artificial picture of their native structure.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2023

Lepore has ways of crystallizing that truth in both specific examples and fresh aphorisms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023

At least we didn’t have to store the honey in a special hot room to keep it from crystallizing, because every room we had was a hot room.

From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd