revolutionize

[rev-uh-loo-shuh-nahyz]

verb (used with object), rev·o·lu·tion·ized, rev·o·lu·tion·iz·ing.

to bring about a revolution in; effect a radical change in: to revolutionize petroleum refining methods.

to subject to a political revolution.

Also especially British, rev·o·lu·tion·ise.

Origin of revolutionize

First recorded in 1790–1800; revolution + -ize

Related formsrev·o·lu·tion·iz·er, nounqua·si-rev·o·lu·tion·ized, adjectiveun·rev·o·lu·tion·ized, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for revolutionise

Historical Examples of revolutionise

If established it will revolutionise our whole views of life.
Robert Elsmere
Mrs. Humphry Ward
If he stayed long enough, he might revolutionise the hours of London.
Before and after Waterloo
Edward Stanley
Photography and printing have combined to revolutionise the art of illustration.
Inventions in the Century
William Henry Doolittle
But it is one thing to reform, and another to revolutionise.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 432
Various
Men have tried to turn "revolutionise" from a transitive to an intransitive verb.
Orthodoxy
G. K. Chesterton

British Dictionary definitions for revolutionise

revolutionize

revolutionise

verb (tr)

to bring about a radical change inscience has revolutionized civilization

to inspire or infect with revolutionary ideasthey revolutionized the common soldiers

to cause a revolution in (a country, etc)

Derived Formsrevolutionizer or revolutioniser, noun

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 revolutionise

revolutionize

1797, "to cause to undergo a (political) revolution;" see revolution + -ize. Transferred sense of "to change a thing completely and fundamentally" is first recorded 1799. Related: Revolutionized; revolutionizing.