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revolutionize

[rev-uh-loo-shuh-nahyz]
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verb (used with object), rev·o·lu·tion·ized, rev·o·lu·tion·iz·ing.
  1. to bring about a revolution in; effect a radical change in: to revolutionize petroleum refining methods.
  2. to subject to a political revolution.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for revolutionise

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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)
  1. to bring about a radical change inscience has revolutionized civilization
  2. to inspire or infect with revolutionary ideasthey revolutionized the common soldiers
  3. to cause a revolution in (a country, etc)
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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

v.

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.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper