ionize
Americanverb
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To give an atom or group of atoms a net electric charge by adding or removing one or more electrons.
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To form ions in a substance. Lightning ionizes air, for example.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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ionizationnoun
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ionizernoun
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self-ionizationnoun
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ionizableadjective
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nonionizedadjective
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nonionizingadjective
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unionizedadjective
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ununionizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ionizesimple
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ionizessimple
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have ionizedperfect
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has ionizedperfect
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am ionizingprogressive
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are ionizingprogressive
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is ionizingprogressive
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have been ionizingperfect progressive
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has been ionizingperfect progressive
Past
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ionizedsimple
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had ionizedperfect
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was ionizingprogressive
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were ionizingprogressive
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had been ionizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ionize
Vocabulary lists containing ionize
Physics - High School
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Electromagnetic Radiation - High School
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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
It then produces a second shock wave as it barrels into the galaxy again, which could ionize more oxygen atoms and explain the unusual production of OII light.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 8, 2024
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
Gamma rays ionize atoms in this way, so it seems very likely that this blast physically affected out planet’s atmosphere, though only mildly and briefly.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 21, 2022
Inorganic materials, when dissolved in water, usually ionize very readily.
From The Chemistry of Plant Life by Roscoe Wilfred Thatcher
In the middle of the BioCharger, within the geometric, connected plates of glass, is a Tesla coil, which ionizes the surrounding 12 glass tubes that hold six noble gases, the gases in the earth’s atmosphere.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
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
The data show that the jet ionizes gas and pushes it away from the galaxy's center as it travels outward.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 19, 2026
The laser light ionizes some air, which then works like a lens to further focus the light into a long “filament” the width of a hair.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 16, 2023
The retrogression gun ionizes animal tissue, nerve cells particularly.
From Forget Me Nearly by F. L. (Floyd L.) Wallace
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
In this state, gas becomes ionized, meaning electrons and ions move freely and create unique properties such as electrical conductivity.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 23, 2026
This system consists of ionized gas filled with interacting charged particles, including tiny grains of dust.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 23, 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
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 radiation that consists of highly energy-rich electromagnetic waves, however, has an ionizing effect and may damage the genetic material.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 19, 2023
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
Such materials, present as contaminants in water that also contains chemicals, may actually change the nature of the chemicals by the impact of ionizing radiation, rearranging their atoms in unpredictable ways to create new chemicals.
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.
