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Synonyms

neutralize

American

[noo-truh-lahyz, nyoo-] / ˈnu trəˌlaɪz, ˈnju- /

especially British, neutralise

verb (used with object)

to make neutral; cause to undergo neutralization.
to make (something) ineffective; counteract; nullify.

carelessness that neutralized our efforts.
Military. to put out of action or make incapable of action.

to neutralize an enemy position.
to declare neutral; invest with neutrality in order to exempt from involvement during a war.

to neutralize a city to prevent bombing.
to add an acid to a basic solution or a base to an acidic solution until the resulting solution is chemically neutral (pH = 7).
Electricity. to render electrically or magnetically neutral.

verb (used without object)

to become neutral or neutralized; undergo neutralization.

With this additive the solution begins to neutralize.

neutralize British

/ ˈnjuːtrəˌlaɪz /

verb

(also intr) to render or become ineffective or neutral by counteracting, mixing, etc; nullify
(also intr) to make or become electrically or chemically neutral
to exclude (a country) from the sphere of warfare or alliances by international agreement

the great powers neutralized Belgium in the 19th century
to render (an army) incapable of further military action

"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

neutralize Scientific

/ no̅o̅′trə-līz′ /

To cause an acidic solution to become neutral by adding a base to it or to cause a basic solution to become neutral by adding an acid to it. Salt and water are usually formed in the process.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of neutralize

First recorded in 1655–65; neutral + -ize

Explanation

When you neutralize something, you make it harmless or ineffective — usually by applying its opposite force, like pouring water on a fire. The world neutral was first used to describe a country that doesn’t take sides in a war, like Switzerland. There’s something kind of noble about a country that doesn’t participate in war by choice, but when we say something has been neutralized — that usually means that its power has been taken away from the outside.

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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:

neutralize neutralizes neutralized neutralizing

"In some cases, the robots can also pick up items, retrieve them from the sea and neutralize them. That could be one viable solution for the future."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

"Airdropping personnel with parachute systems is impractical because, unfortunately, the enemy's assets can neutralize them very rapidly," said 24-year-old instructor Axel.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

He added the agreement allows Israel freedom of action to neutralize what it deems as immediate or even emerging threats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026

Frontier made its first advanced market commitment in 2022, providing startups cash to build technologies that eventually would generate carbon credits, in turn allowing companies to neutralize their emissions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026

It was like old Mission Impossible reruns on TV: Your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to get inside this computerized robot, discover how it operates, and neutralize its effectiveness.

From "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson

But building alternatives neutralizes the strait as a weapon, said Robin Mills, chief executive of Dubai-based consulting firm Qamar Energy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026

That it’s a woman who ultimately neutralizes Homelander shielding is a kind of poetic justice.

From Salon ● May 24, 2026

A class of bNAbs called 10E8 is a priority for HIV vaccine development because it neutralizes a particularly broad range of HIV variants.

From Science Daily ● May 30, 2024

But this reduction of the character neutralizes the drama’s complexity.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2024

"A treat for your feet. Made from all natural ingredients, it neutralizes odor-causing fungi and bacteria. Plus, you'll like the tingle."

From "Holes" by Louis Sachar

What are rising mortgage rates and utility bills when you’ve been neutralized by some bioweapon engineered by a collective of scheming AI agents, recursively self-improving their way to planetary domination?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

The mixtures completely neutralized the lethal effects of rattlesnake venom and also provided broad protection against venom from multiple viper species, including species separated by millions of years of evolution.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026

The neutralized MMA will be transferred from tanks at the aerospace firm “into sealed trucks for transport and disposal,” officials said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026

After a short period of lockdown when authorities advised area residents to stay inside, San Diego police announced that the threat at the center had been "neutralized."

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

There was also the problem of what neutralized the negative charges of the phosphate groups of the DNA backbone.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

The UN Security Council last year gave its approval to a new international Gang Suppression Force tasked with neutralizing the groups.

From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026

"By identifying an internal brake that had until now gone unrecognized and by developing antibodies capable of neutralizing it, our researchers are offering an innovative solution to the limitations of current treatments," he said.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 9, 2026

To the Knicks, neutralizing Wembanyama comes down to one thing: not caring which of their shooters ends up with the ball in his hands.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026

Nonetheless, officials wanted to inject a neutralizing agent into that second tank, so that if the primary failing tank explodes, it doesn’t cause an even greater blast by igniting the second tank.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026

And then, when nothing happened—as nothing would—he would apply the neutralizing compound to deactivate it so it didn’t just drip down the impervious metal and eat its way into the ground.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

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