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Showing results for devitalize. Search instead for devilize.
Synonyms

devitalize

American  
[dee-vahyt-l-ahyz] / diˈvaɪt lˌaɪz /
especially British, devitalise

verb (used with object)

devitalized, devitalizing
  1. to deprive of vitality or vital properties; make lifeless; weaken.


devitalize British  
/ diːˈvaɪtəˌlaɪz /

verb

  1. (tr) to lower or destroy the vitality of; make weak or lifeless

    the war devitalized the economy

"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 devitalize

First recorded in 1840–50; de- + vitalize

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:

This can devitalize the plant to the point of it starting to die back.

From Seattle Times Feb. 22, 2023

So this latter phenomenon physicians use to devitalize cancerous growths-and on the ovaries to bring on artificial menopause.

From Time Magazine Archive

These shoots are useless, devitalize the vine, and hinder vineyard operations.

From Manual of American Grape-Growing by Hedrick, U. P.

Sometimes the impression of this diathesis is so intense as to devitalize the foetus in utero, causing still-birth.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various

His opinions, whatever they are, do not devitalize his fiction.

From The Critical Game by Macy, John Albert

She was a tennis-playing nutritionist with a master's in biochemistry who was a critic of processed, "devitalized" foods and advocated for vitamin supplements.

From Salon Sep. 17, 2023

“A vast, flocculent cloud darkened and devitalized the city, mimicking the family mood like weather does in memories.”

From New York Times Apr. 11, 2019

Surgeons working on the case at UMC noted in the Sunday briefing that they had found only minimal amounts of "devitalized" brain matter and had already removed it.

From Scientific American Jan. 11, 2011

Giffords, a 40-year-old Democratic lawmaker, did not have severe bleeding in the brain nor large sections of devitalized brain tissue, Lemole said.

From Reuters Jan. 9, 2011

But, though the artist’s vision and emotion alike are modified, purified, they are not devitalized.

From Ancient Art and Ritual by Harrison, Jane Ellen

In the process thousands of hours of vital time were lost in conferences, argument and devitalizing hiatuses while heels and ardor cooled.

From Time Magazine Archive

After painting for several years, he found himself distressed by "the devitalizing isolation of the studio."

From Time Magazine Archive

What about the hurried, ugly and devitalizing existence of our big towns?

From The Life of the Spirit and the Life of To-day by Underhill, Evelyn

This fact we admit; but as the effect is devitalizing, disorganizing and ultimately demoralizing, we consider the result the crowning shame rather than the crowning glory of Unitarianism.

From To Infidelity and Back by Lutz, Henry F. (Henry Frey)

It is needless to state that the whole weakness of the story of atmosphere as a fiction results from the necessary devitalizing of its characters, for fiction primarily concerns man, his conflicts and his loves.

From The Technique of Fiction Writing by Dowst, Robert Saunders

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