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demagnetize

American  
[dee-mag-ni-tahyz] / diˈmæg nɪˌtaɪz /
especially British, demagnetise

verb (used with object)

demagnetized, demagnetizing
  1. to remove magnetization from.


demagnetize British  
/ diːˈmæɡnəˌtaɪz /

verb

  1. Also: degauss.  to lose magnetic properties or remove magnetic properties from

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of demagnetize

First recorded in 1830–40; de- + magnetize

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:

Pumping too much current into the device would cause it to overheat and demagnetize.

From Science Daily Feb. 22, 2024

The researchers were then able to demagnetize the layer again with a series of weaker laser pulses.

From Science Daily Dec. 7, 2023

The geophysicists were able to determine what that paleointensity was by heating single crystals to demagnetize them, and then reheating the samples in the presence of a magnetic field to impart magnetization.

From Scientific American Feb. 15, 2019

"We had to demagnetize the building," she says, a painstaking process that required passing an electromagnet over every square meter of the walls.

From Science Magazine Jun. 29, 2017

Lodge devised a similar arrangement called a coherer, and E. Rutherford invented a magnetic detector depending on the power of electric oscillations to demagnetize iron or steel.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 2 "Ehud" to "Electroscope" by Various

That meant she ensured that ships were demagnetized so they were less susceptible to damage from magnetic mines.

From Seattle Times May 30, 2024

The researchers started with a magnetoelectric material made up of a piezoelectric layer of lead zirconium titanate sandwiched between two magnetorestrictive layers of metallic glass alloys, or Metglas, which can be rapidly magnetized and demagnetized.

From Science Daily Oct. 10, 2023

What Kushner’s book really is, however, is a portrait of a man whose moral compass has been demagnetized.

From Washington Post Aug. 26, 2022

Conversely, a permanent magnet can be demagnetized by hard blows or by heating it in the absence of another magnet.

From Textbooks Aug. 12, 2015

I demagnetized it; now it runs all right.

From The Black Star Passes by Campbell, John Wood

The researchers measured energy transfer involving exchange interactions, demagnetizing effects, and entropy.

From Science Daily May 18, 2026

In response, Apple says: "Smartphones and other items contain magnets or components that may have a risk of demagnetizing low coercivity cards. To prevent this from happening, users should keep these cards stored separately."

From BBC Aug. 15, 2024

In a 28-year career as head of a series of enterprises, the Utah-born Jarvis ranged from making electric irons to demagnetizing the hulls of combat ships to protect them from mines.

From Time Magazine Archive

An air gap in a magnetic circuit always tends to hasten demagnetizing.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 787, January 31, 1891 by Various

Then it starts to lose its magnetism and that feeds back a counter-emf which increases the demagnetizing current until it's saturated with opposite polarity.

From Long Ago, Far Away by Leinster, Murray

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