emulsify

American  

[ih-muhl-suh-fahy] / ɪˈmʌl səˌfaɪ /

verb (used with or without object)

• emulsifies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• emulsified,
  past participle,  past
• emulsifying
  present participle

1. to make into or form an emulsion.

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emulsify British  

/ ɪˈmʌlsɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. to make or form into an emulsion

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Usage

What does emulsify mean? To emulsify is to form an emulsion—a mixture of two liquids that don’t fully combine. An emulsion may look like a single liquid, but it’s made up of particles of one liquid distributed throughout another liquid. For example, if you emulsify oil and water, it forms an emulsion in which small droplets of oil are suspended in the water, but the two liquids aren’t fully blended together (as they would be if you stirred together water and vinegar, for example). In technical chemistry terms, an emulsion is a colloidal suspension in which the substances mixed together are both liquids. Both colloids and suspensions involve particles of one substance distributed in another without being dissolved. Emulsions are used in a variety of contexts, including pharmacology, cooking, and photography. In cooking, liquids or liquid-like ingredients are emulsified in order to make sauces with a smooth consistency. A common example of an emulsion is the kind of salad dressings called a vinaigrette, which is made by emulsifying oil and vinegar. Example: To emulsify oil and vinegar, you have to whisk very hard to separate the oil into tiny droplets, or else the two liquids will separate.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• emulsibility
  noun
• emulsifiability
  noun
• emulsification
  noun
• emulsifier
  noun
• emulsible
  adjective
• emulsifiable
  adjective
• unemulsified
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• emulsifying
  present
• emulsified
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• emulsify
  simple
• emulsifies
  simple
• have emulsified
  perfect
• has emulsified
  perfect
• am emulsifying
  progressive
• are emulsifying
  progressive
• is emulsifying
  progressive
• have been emulsifying
  perfect progressive
• has been emulsifying
  perfect progressive

Past

• emulsified
  simple
• had emulsified
  perfect
• was emulsifying
  progressive
• were emulsifying
  progressive
• had been emulsifying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will emulsify
  simple
• will have emulsified
  perfect
• will be emulsifying
  progressive
• will have been emulsifying
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of emulsify

First recorded in 1855–60; from Latin ēmuls(us) ( see emulsion) + -ify

Explanation

When you emulsify something, you mix it so thoroughly that it becomes an emulsion, or a mixture of two liquids that can't be completely blended together. Home cooks emulsify any time they make a good oil-based salad dressing, thoroughly mixing the oil with the vinegar or other liquid ingredients. While the oil, because it's not soluble, can't be completely combined with the vinegar, you can emulsify the two so that the tiny drops of oil are dispersed across the volume of vinegar and the texture of the salad dressing is satisfying. Emulsify comes from the Latin word emulsus, or "milked out."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

emulsify emulsifies emulsified emulsifying

The therapy is a diglyceride formulation -- two omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA, bound to a glyceride molecule -- which enhances their ability to emulsify into tiny, concentrated particles.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2024

Mustard adds to a vinaigrette in two ways: It adds heat, flavor and dimension, and it helps emulsify or thicken the dressing.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 2, 2023

“The Good John Proctor” shares DNA with Monahon’s other plays, which thoroughly emulsify history and fiction to give voice to previously marginal figures or to connect historical events to our moment.

From New York Times ● Feb. 23, 2023

I wondered about using a fork instead of a whisk, worrying that it would not emulsify properly.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 19, 2022

By this method, sulpho-compounds of the glyceride are first formed, which readily emulsify with water, and, on treatment with steam, liberate fatty acids, the glycerol remaining partly in the form of glycero-sulphuric acid.

From The Handbook of Soap Manufacture by W. H. Simmons

But you'd only be partially correct since the turn emulsifies the supernatural into the ludicrous.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2023

The mixture will split at first, but keep on whisking until it emulsifies.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2021

Did you know molasses emulsifies the olive oil and keeps the little fat molecules from stumbling into each other, thus allowing the oil and vinegar to mix?

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 6, 2020

If you liked that album, there’s no reason you wouldn’t like this one, which also emulsifies carols and Christmas standards to the consistency of a smoothie.

From New York Times ● Nov. 24, 2016

Combined with the bile, this juice acts upon the large drops of fat which pass from the stomach into the duodenum and emulsifies them.

From A Practical Physiology by Albert F. Blaisdell

Even a simple vinaigrette could become something a little more luxe, fully emulsified.

From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2026

The team says that result confirmed the hypothesis that VFD processing could be a "green" one-step technique for more stable, emulsified viscous liquids.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 11, 2024

With the motor running on low, if your processor allows, slowly add the olive oil and process until smooth and emulsified.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 13, 2023

When seasoned with lemon and garlic and whisked with ice water, tahini goes from gloppy and oily to pale, thick and emulsified with a bright and pungent flavor that’s also earthy and rich.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 4, 2022

Occurring even more frequently is the mixed sex ensemble, in which the type of reproductive organs and of secondary sex traits run roughly parallel, emulsified with certain traits of the opposite sex.

From The Glands Regulating Personality by Louis Berman M.D.

Many vinaigrette recipes call for emulsifiers without specifically mentioning their crucial emulsifying role.

From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2024

You can also apply an emulsifying ointment or olive or coconut oil – not inside – to act as a moisturiser.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 8, 2019

Milk is an emulsion of butterfat in water, with the protein casein serving as the emulsifying agent.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

“Mmm, I like that,” Fain said of the avocado dressing, which is made by emulsifying the brand’s guacamole with red wine vinegar.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 27, 2017

This milk it cannot digest because the emulsifying element, the fat, is not present in it in sufficient quantity in proportion to the coagulable matter.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 392, July 7, 1883 by Various