nebulize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of nebulize
Explanation
Nebulize comes up mainly in medical contexts, where it means "to turn a medicine into a fine mist so that it can be breathed in." A nebulizer is anything that turns a liquid into a mist to make it easier to spray, and nebulize is what it does. The most common situation in which you'll find liquids being nebulized is in medicine, especially for lung troubles like asthma. Typically, the medicine is nebulized and then given to the patient through a mask connected to a tube that filters the mist in. The word comes from the Latin nebula meaning "mist."
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 response to Mercola’s comment, Carver emphasized that coronavirus patients should only be using prescribed treatments, and noted that the recommendation to nebulize hydrogen peroxide could be particularly dangerous for people with asthma.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 22, 2021
In a different video from April 2020, removed from YouTube but archived on the website BitChute, Mercola describes how to nebulize hydrogen peroxide.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 22, 2021
There are only a tiny handful of studies in which someone tried to nebulize, or vaporize, vitamin E in experiments related to lung health.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2019
United Therapeutics’ nebulized Tyvaso showed improved results in a Phase 3 trial.
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026
Two or three times a day, Molly Pam, a 33-year-old chef and patient advocate in San Francisco, inhales nebulized blasts of colistin or aztreonam.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2022
Miss Maywood is experiencing kidney failure while Casper has developed pneumonia and needs to be nebulized several times a day to help him breathe.
From Fox News ● Nov. 5, 2021
A California-based business called Gordon Medical has advertised an in-office nebulized hydrogen peroxide treatment for both preventing and treating the virus.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 22, 2021
When the body is sufficiently nebulized, the soul––Back!
From Astounding Stories of Super-Science, March 1930 by Bates, Harry
Soon she was nebulizing her medication throughout the day and struggling to walk up stairs.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2025
One idea involves nebulizing seawater into clouds over reefs to reflect more of the sun's radiation.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 29, 2022
Novus charges $10,000 for the shipment of vials containing the exosomes and nebulizing equipment.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2020
I have chronic asthma on top of all this, and they say that there are no nebulizing machines available – none of the medical supplies that we should have here.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 17, 2020
Those with more experience may want to consider nebulizing diffusers, which distribute pure, undiluted oil via pumps of air.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 10, 2019
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.
