ionize
Americanverb
-
To give an atom or group of atoms a net electric charge by adding or removing one or more electrons.
-
To form ions in a substance. Lightning ionizes air, for example.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
ionizationnoun
-
ionizernoun
-
self-ionizationnoun
-
ionizableadjective
-
nonionizedadjective
-
nonionizingadjective
-
unionizedadjective
-
ununionizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ionizesimple
-
ionizessimple
-
have ionizedperfect
-
has ionizedperfect
-
am ionizingprogressive
-
are ionizingprogressive
-
is ionizingprogressive
-
have been ionizingperfect progressive
-
has been ionizingperfect progressive
Past
-
ionizedsimple
-
had ionizedperfect
-
was ionizingprogressive
-
were ionizingprogressive
-
had been ionizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ionize
Vocabulary lists containing ionize
Physics - High School
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Electromagnetic Radiation - High School
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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:
In minutes, sunlight would ionize the material, creating a plasma barrier that would flow to the day-side of the magnetosphere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
And unlike auroras, neither Steve nor the picket fence emit blue light, which is generated when the most energetic particles hit and ionize nitrogen.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 8, 2023
But if a solar storm does hit, it can ionize Earth's upper atmosphere and fuel radio and satellite blackouts.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 4, 2023
As a charged particle streaks through the argon, it will ionize some of the atoms, freeing their electrons.
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 28, 2022
Second, the upper atmosphere of Eisberg was pretty much pure hydrogen, which is somewhat easier to ionize than oxygen or nitrogen.
From Unwise Child by Garrett, Randall
Either electrical current from divertors or from microwaves ionizes the gas, igniting an electrically charged plasma ring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
That atom then stabilizes itself by pulling an electron from a nearby atom, while the released energy ionizes a third neighbor.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 24, 2026
Stellar winds from the brightest and hottest young stars have carved out these cavities, while ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding gas.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 11, 2024
They discovered fluorescent light from oxygen atoms, known as OII, that typically occurs when ultraviolet light from bright young stars ionizes oxygen in surrounding gas clouds.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 8, 2024
The retrogression gun ionizes animal tissue, nerve cells particularly.
From Forget Me Nearly by Wallace, F. L. (Floyd L.)
A carefully timed soft X-ray pulse then ionized them by removing deeply bound electrons from either the nitrogen or fluorine atoms.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026
Essentia, the supercharged ionized alkaline water, was for models and Kardashians.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Within minutes, sunlight transforms this material into an ionized gas shield that slows the oncoming massive blob of plasma.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The gas being driven out of VV 340a is highly energized and strongly ionized, meaning its atoms have lost electrons due to extreme conditions.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 19, 2026
By Livingston’s calculations, he had accelerated ionized hydrogen molecules, H2, twenty times over the course of ten complete circuits.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
These newly discovered quasars come from a critical period known as the epoch of reionization, when the first stars and galaxies transformed the early universe by ionizing the neutral hydrogen gas that once filled space.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
MRI did what X-rays couldn't do: See soft tissue without using ionizing radiation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Portable X-ray equipment works in the same way as the big, fixed machines in radiology departments in hospitals - the image is created by a targeted burst of ionizing radiation.
From BBC ● Jan. 7, 2024
The observation showed that the burst’s photons were reaching down to just 60 kilometers above the surface and ionizing more molecules in the air, creating a better reflector.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 14, 2023
Under the impact of ionizing radiation some rearrangement of atoms could easily occur, changing the nature of the chemicals in a way that is not only unpredictable but beyond control.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
