pulverize

[puhl-vuh-rahyz]

verb (used with object), pul·ver·ized, pul·ver·iz·ing.

to reduce to dust or powder, as by pounding or grinding.

to demolish or crush completely.

Slang. to defeat, hurt badly, or, figuratively, render helpless: The Kid pulverized Jackson with a series of brutal lefts. He's a veteran nightclub comic who can pulverize any audience in seconds.

verb (used without object), pul·ver·ized, pul·ver·iz·ing.

to become reduced to dust.

Also especially British, pul·ver·ise.

Origin of pulverize

1575–85; < Late Latin pulverizāre to reduce to powder, equivalent to Latin pulver- (stem of pulvis; akin to pollen) dust + -izāre -ize

Related formspul·ver·iz·a·ble, adjectivepul·ver·i·za·tion, nounpul·ver·iz·er, nounsub·pul·ver·iz·er, nounun·pul·ver·ized, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for pulverized

shatter, demolish, vaporize, annihilate, decimate, flatten, vanquish, crunch, pound, mull, buck, fragment, bray, splinter, fragmentize, grind, crush, beat, powder, granulate

Examples from the Web for pulverized

Contemporary Examples of pulverized

I landed spread-eagle on my stomach, my head and back struck by a relentless storm of pulverized glass and cement.
How 9/11 Made Journalists Part of the Story
Allison Gilbert
May 18, 2014
Barthas would look out on scenes of churned up earth filled with human remains and the debris of thousands of pulverized lives.
Blood and Mud: A French Soldier’s WWI Memoir Vividly Describes Trench Warfare
Marc Wortman
May 1, 2014
Subtleties of study design and interpretation are pulverized in the name of the sound bite of course, but this is old news.
Could Tylenol Cause ADHD?
Kent Sepkowitz
February 25, 2014
Almost every “fact” is wrung through an ideological thresher and pulverized.
A Response to David Mamet on Gun Control
Michael Tomasky
January 28, 2013
Four weeks ago, his family removed his expensive headstone from his grave, pulverized it, and placed the remains in a landfill.
British Police Nab Glam Rocker Gary Glitter
Peter Jukes
October 29, 2012

Historical Examples of pulverized

The mule is started, and in four or five hours the quartz is pulverized.
Hittel on Gold Mines and Mining
John S. Hittell
Often the dried and pulverized solids of skim milk are used.
Human Foods and Their Nutritive Value
Harry Snyder
Adjoining this Refinery was the department in which charcoal was made and pulverized.
History of the Confederate Powder Works
Geo. W. Rains
The leaves were dried and pulverized, and then made into a paste.
Museum of Antiquity
L. W. Yaggy
Why, the two of them could have pulverized this pretty fellow opposite!
The Pagan Madonna
Harold MacGrath

British Dictionary definitions for pulverized

pulverize

pulverise

verb

to reduce (a substance) to fine particles, as by crushing or grinding, or (of a substance) to be so reduced

(tr) to destroy completely; defeat or injure seriously

Derived Formspulverizable or pulverisable, adjectivepulverization or pulverisation, nounpulverizer or pulveriser, noun

Word Origin for pulverize

C16: from Late Latin pulverizare or French pulvériser, from Latin pulverum, from pulvis dust

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

Word Origin and History for pulverized

pulverize

early 15c., from Late Latin pulverizare "reduce to powder or dust," from Latin pulvis (genitive pulveris) "dust, powder" (see pollen). Related: Pulverized; pulverizing.