sanitizer
Americannoun
Usage
What does sanitizer mean? Sanitizer is a substance or fluid designed to kill germs on skin and objects. To sanitize means to clean something by removing the dirt or destroying the germs on it. Food service operations use sanitizer to clean their equipment so that food doesn’t become contaminated with bacteria or other stuff that shouldn’t be in it. Sanitizer also refers to household products (especially hand sanitizer) that are used to prevent the spread of disease by killing germs on surfaces and skin. Example: We use industrial-grade sanitizer in the restaurant kitchen to keep our equipment free of germs.
Etymology
Origin of sanitizer
Explanation
Sanitizer is a product that's used to make something extremely clean. Using hand sanitizer is one good way to help keep germs from spreading. Sanitizer doesn't just clean, it sanitizes, or kills viruses and bacteria. Both words come from sanitary and its Latin root, sanitas, which means "health." If you're cleaning a kitchen or bathroom, you might want to use a sanitizer spray on germy surfaces, and when you can't wash your hands with soap and water, hand sanitizer is the way to go!
Vocabulary lists containing sanitizer
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.
The company survived Prohibition by making applesauce and sweet cider, and later adapted to make hand sanitizer during Covid-19.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026
The warehouse and surrounding storage areas were filled with stacks of pallets and cardboard boxes containing highly flammable ethanol-based hand sanitizer, according to court documents.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2026
“Even though she was using it to store dried mango and sanitizer wipes for her toddler, it still looked effortlessly cool,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 3, 2026
She takes out the trash, then checks the fluid in the commercial dishwashing machine with a test strip to make sure there’s enough sanitizer.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2025
I don’t mind sharing, because she always uses hand sanitizer when I offer it.
From "The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl" by Stacy McAnulty
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.
