nitrify
Americanverb (used with object)
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Chemistry, Biology. to oxidize (ammonia, ammonium compounds, or free atmospheric nitrogen) to nitrites and then to nitrates, especially in soil by bacterial or other microbial action.
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Chemistry. to infuse with nitrogen or nitrogen compounds.
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Chemistry. to treat or combine with nitrogen or its compounds.
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Chemistry. (formerly) to convert into niter.
verb
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to treat or cause to react with nitrogen or a nitrogen compound
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to treat (soil) with nitrates
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(of nitrobacteria) to convert (ammonium compounds) into nitrates by oxidation
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of nitrify
First recorded in 1820–30; from French nitrifier; see nitr-, niter, -i-, -fy
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:
A thin layer of solution will nitrify sooner than a deep layer, owing to the larger proportion of oxygen available.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 470, January 3, 1885 by Various
This is the reason why strong urine solutions do not nitrify.
From Manures and the principles of manuring by Aikman, Charles Morton
It follows from this that sulphate of ammonia, the most common of ammoniacal manures, is one of the most speedily nitrified when applied to the soil.
From Manures and the principles of manuring by Aikman, Charles Morton
The hard, nitrified rock held out stoutly against the assaults of both iron and gunpowder; and much time was spent in hollowing out the basin in which the lighthouse was to be fixed.
From Triumphs of Invention and Discovery in Art and Science by Fyfe, J. Hamilton
By making the nitrification intensive, he was able to obtain considerable quantities of carbon from the nitrified solutions by the process of wet combustion.
From Manures and the principles of manuring by Aikman, Charles Morton
As we should expect, such a manure as shoddy is very slowly nitrified.
From Manures and the principles of manuring by Aikman, Charles Morton
Far stronger solutions of ammonium chloride can be nitrified than of ammonium carbonate, if the solution of the former salt is supplied with calcium carbonate.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 470, January 3, 1885 by Various
Called brachialactone, it reduces nitrous oxide emissions by blocking enzymatic pathways in nitrifying bacteria.
From Nature ● Sep. 18, 2013
But then nitrifying soil bacteria go to work, wreaking environmental havoc.
From Nature ● Sep. 18, 2013
The presence of earthworms increases the nitrifying powers of the soil bacteria and decreases putrifaction of the soil.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
There are apparently several different kinds of nitrifying bacteria with different powers.
From The Story of Germ Life by Conn, H. W. (Herbert William)
The gypsum neutralises the alkalinity of nitrifying solutions by converting the alkaline ammonium carbonate into neutral ammonium sulphate, the calcium carbonate being precipitated.
From Manures and the principles of manuring by Aikman, Charles Morton
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.
