pulverize

[ puhl-vuh-rahyz ]

/ ˈpʌl vəˌraɪz /

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.

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without interest or significance; dull; insipid.

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Words nearby pulverize

pulsus rarus, pultaceous, pulu, pulv., pulverable, pulverize, pulverulent, pulvillus, pulvinar, pulvinate, pulvinus

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

OTHER WORDS FROM pulverize

pul·ver·iz·a·ble, adjectivepul·ver·i·za·tion, nounpul·ver·iz·er, nounsub·pul·ver·iz·er, noun

un·pul·ver·ized, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
Almost every “fact” is wrung through an ideological thresher and pulverized.
A Response to David Mamet on Gun Control|Michael Tomasky|January 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST

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|DAILY BEAST
The pulverized peat must be moulded by hand, or by a separate instrument.
Peat and its Uses as Fertilizer and Fuel|Samuel William Johnson
The pulverized peat finally falls into a cistern, in which it is agitated by revolving arms.
Peat and its Uses as Fertilizer and Fuel|Samuel William Johnson
The disintegrated and pulverized material is then carried to the washing machines.
Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania |Jewett Castello Gilson
Then mix the beaten yolks with half a pound of pulverized and sifted loaf or crushed sugar, and beat the two together thoroughly.
The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887)|Mrs. F.L. Gillette
To four quarts of fine salt and two ounces of pulverized saltpeter, add sufficient molasses to make a pasty mixture.
Home Pork Making|A. W. Fulton

British Dictionary definitions for pulverized

pulverize

pulverise

/ (ˈpʌlvəˌraɪz) /

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 forms of pulverize

pulverizable 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