devitalize

[dee-vahyt-l-ahyz]

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verb (used with object), de·vi·tal·ized, de·vi·tal·iz·ing.

to deprive of vitality or vital properties; make lifeless; weaken.

Also especially British, de·vi·tal·ise.

Origin of devitalize

First recorded in 1840–50; de- + vitalize

Related formsde·vi·tal·i·za·tion, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for devitalize

emasculate, debilitate, disembowel, deaden, destroy, desiccate, eviscerate, enervate, weaken, exenterate

Examples from the Web for devitalize

Historical Examples of devitalize

But the biologist cannot devitalize a plant or an animal and revivify it again.
Natural Law in the Spiritual World
Henry Drummond
Its effect must have also been to devitalize the oxygen and nitrogen of the atmosphere.
A Republic Without a President and Other Stories
Herbert Ward
His opinions, whatever they are, do not devitalize his fiction.
The Critical Game
John Albert Macy
Now will to devitalize the entire hand from the wrist to the finger-tips.
The Renaissance of the Vocal Art
Edmund Myer
These shoots are useless, devitalize the vine, and hinder vineyard operations.
Manual of American Grape-Growing
U. P. Hedrick

British Dictionary definitions for devitalize

devitalize

devitalise

verb

(tr) to lower or destroy the vitality of; make weak or lifelessthe war devitalized the economy

Derived Formsdevitalization or devitalisation, noun

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