desalinate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of desalinate
Explanation
To desalinate something is to remove all the salt from it. It's possible to desalinate ocean water in order to make it drinkable. Scientists have figured out how to desalinate seawater, making it much more useful to humans. Once you strip away the salt and other minerals that make it undrinkable, the water can be used for both drinking and irrigating crops, which can save the lives of people experiencing droughts. It's also sometimes necessary to desalinate soil so that plants can grow in it. Desalinate comes from de-, "undo," and saline, "made of salt."
Vocabulary lists containing desalinate
List 14
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Selection Vocabulary 1, Unit 6
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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:
It can even desalinate water quickly, which means ocean water could potentially be used to fight a blaze like the Palisades fire in the future.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025
While desalination facilities are abundant in countries like Israel, Australia, and Saudi Arabia where water scarcity is acute, the energy required to desalinate water at scale presents a significant environmental hurdle.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 18, 2024
The south Asian nation, now the most populous in the world, is among many countries that have built huge plants to desalinate sea water.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 20, 2023
There are currently two techniques used to desalinate seawater - thermal and membrane.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2023
Plaquemines Parish officials also have plans to use reverse osmosis machines to desalinate drinking water there.
From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2022
The country currently produces a little more than 657,000 cubic metres per day of desalinated water thanks to 341 plants.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
The Persian Gulf is now home to the largest concentration of desalination capacity on earth, producing roughly 40% of the world’s desalinated water.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
Ras Laffan also houses gas-to-liquids facilities — these convert natural gas into liquid petroleum products — along with a refinery and water and power plants that produce desalinated water and generate electricity.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026
“The key strategy in overcoming it is to build in some diversification of supply — to groundwater, desalinated water and reused wastewater — in addition to reducing demand.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025
The algae naturally and continuously desalinated sea water, which was why its core was salty while its outer surface was wet with fresh water: it was oozing the fresh water out.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
We need an economical method of desalinating ocean water and transporting it over long distances to arid regions of the planet such as North Africa, the Middle East, Central Australia and the Western U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Some water-stressed regions, including some entire countries, are already desalinating seawater.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 17, 2023
The seven-member panel analyzed proposals that would involve desalinating seawater in Mexico, at the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, and sending it north across the border.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2022
They used baby wipes to clean and occasionally had a bucket bath using special soap and seawater put through their desalinating machine.
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2022
It operates in some respects like an aircraft carrier at sea, even desalinating its own water with fuel brought in by tanker.
From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2019
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.
