metabolize
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
has metabolizedperfect 3rd person singular
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have metabolizedperfect
-
are metabolizingprogressive
-
have been metabolizingperfect progressive
-
is metabolizingprogressive 3rd person singular
-
am metabolizingprogressive 1st person singular
-
has been metabolizingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
-
metabolizingparticiple
-
metabolizessingular 3rd person
Past
-
had metabolizedperfect
-
had been metabolizingperfect progressive
-
was metabolizingprogressive singular
-
were metabolizingprogressive plural
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metabolizedsimple
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metabolizedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of metabolize
First recorded in 1885–90; metabol(ism) + -ize
Explanation
When bodies process various substances, you can say they metabolize them. For example, when your body takes in calories, it metabolizes them, putting them to good use. This verb, a back-formation from metabolism, is pretty much the sine qua non — or essential element — of being alive: it's everyone's 24/7 occupation. The Greek root, metabole, only means "a change," which is the one thing that's inescapable while we go about in this mortal coil.
Vocabulary lists containing metabolize
Ecology - Middle School
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Ecology - High School
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Cosmos
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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.
Age matters because children have smaller, less developed livers that metabolize caffeine more slowly.
From Science Daily • May 18, 2026
Movies, for better or worse, are among the few remaining ways for Americans to encounter, metabolize, and wrestle with big moral issues at scale.
From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026
At the basic cellular level, we are beings that metabolize energy, reproduce offspring and pursue survival.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 3, 2026
Side effects could be more severe for older adults, who metabolize medicine differently than younger people.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 4, 2025
My appetite vanished and my digestive system, which required abundant oxygen to metabolize food, failed to make use of much of what I forced myself to eat; instead my body began consuming itself for sustenance.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
