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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:

Because electric motors often operate at high temperatures, thermal effects can also partially demagnetize these materials, making the energy loss problem even more complicated.

From Science Daily May 18, 2026

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

From Science Daily Feb. 22, 2024

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

I fancied that the doctor struggled to demagnetize, so to speak, the look which she gave him.

From The Ear in the Wall by Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin) Reeve

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

In an AGU presentation, Steele used computer simulations to show layers of alternating magnetic fields could essentially cancel out the net magnetic field of the basins—making them appear to be demagnetized.

From Science Magazine Dec. 19, 2022

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

His sensation was that of one being demagnetized.

From She Buildeth Her House by William Wistar Comfort

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

There is a certain maximum load current that the shunt dynamo is capable of supplying at constant voltage; beyond this, the voltage will decrease, the machine finally demagnetizing itself, and ceasing to generate current.

From Hawkins Electrical Guide, Number One Questions, Answers, & Illustrations, A Progressive Course of Study for Engineers, Electricians, Students and Those Desiring to acquire a Working Knowledge of Electricity and its Applications by Nehemiah Hawkins

It has already been explained that the ends or poles of a polar magnet exert a demagnetizing power upon the mass of the metal in the interior of the bar.

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

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