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devitalize

[dee-vahyt-l-ahyz]
See more synonyms for devitalize on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object), de·vi·tal·ized, de·vi·tal·iz·ing.
  1. to deprive of vitality or vital properties; make lifeless; weaken.
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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. 2018

Related Words

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

Examples from the Web for devitalize

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

British Dictionary definitions for devitalize

devitalize

devitalise

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