Synonyms

irradiate

American

[ih-rey-dee-eyt, ih-rey-dee-it, -eyt] / ɪˈreɪ diˌeɪt, ɪˈreɪ di ɪt, -ˌeɪt /

verb (used with object)

to shed rays of light upon; illuminate.
to illumine intellectually or spiritually.
to brighten as if with light.
to radiate (light, illumination, etc.).
to heat with radiant energy.
to treat by exposure to radiation, as of ultraviolet light.
to expose to radiation.

verb (used without object)

Archaic.
1. to emit rays; shine.
2. to become radiant.

adjective

irradiated; bright.

irradiate British

/ ɪˈreɪdɪˌeɪt /

verb

(tr) physics to subject to or treat with light or other electromagnetic radiation or with beams of particles
(tr) to expose (food) to electromagnetic radiation to kill bacteria and retard deterioration
(tr) to make clear or bright intellectually or spiritually; illumine
a less common word for radiate
obsolete (intr) to become radiant

"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

irradiate Scientific

/ ĭ-rā′dē-āt′ /

To expose to or treat with radiation. For example, meat sold as food is often irradiated with x-rays or other radiation to kill bacteria; uranium 238 can be irradiated with neutrons to create fissionable plutonium 239.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of irradiate

1595–1605; < Latin irradiātus, past participle of irradiāre to shine upon. See ir- ¹, radiate

Vocabulary lists containing irradiate

Nuclear Processes

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Physics - 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.

Eradication was possible through the sterile insect technique, which uses gamma radiation to irradiate screwworm pupae and create sterile male flies.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026

The NIF used indirect drive to irradiate a capsule with X-rays using about 2,000 kilojoules of laser energy.

From Science Daily • Feb. 5, 2024

Inexplicable fires first obliterate Japanese freighters and irradiate fish, a ripped-from-the-headlines echo of the Lucky Dragon No. 5 incident—a Japanese tuna ship showered in radioactive fallout from the Castle Bravo thermonuclear test at Bikini Atoll.

From Scientific American • Nov. 3, 2023

“This beta radiation is not very penetrating so that practically all of the energy emitted remains within the individual and cannot irradiate anyone else.”

From Seattle Times • Mar. 17, 2023

All his work since then had culminated in a factory that could irradiate two hundred tons of uranium at a time to produce a half pound of plutonium every two hundred days.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023