revolutionize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to bring about a revolution in; effect a radical change in.
to revolutionize petroleum refining methods.
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to subject to a political revolution.
verb
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to bring about a radical change in
science has revolutionized civilization
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to inspire or infect with revolutionary ideas
they revolutionized the common soldiers
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to cause a revolution in (a country, etc)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of revolutionize
First recorded in 1790–1800; revolution + -ize
Explanation
Revolutionize, a verb, means "to make a major change," like in the 1990s, when the Internet revolutionized how people communicated, got information and even did their jobs. Things were never the same again. Use revolutionize to describe something that is completely transformed. Originally, it meant "to bring about sweeping political change," like people who band together and fight to revolutionize a nation, with the end result being a new party in power or new philosophies about things like land ownership or tax collection put in place. In time, it also came to mean even nonpolitical change, like the digital music player, which revolutionized how people get and listen to music.
Vocabulary lists containing revolutionize
100 SAT words Beginning with "R"
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"Remarks at the Dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center" by John F. Kennedy
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Hey, Kiddo
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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.
Boosters say AI can revolutionize how companies handle decades of legacy code, and it has in some cases.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Quantum computers, offshoots of quantum mechanics, can explore multiple solutions at once, and promise the kind of processing power that could revolutionize medicine, materials science, and other fields.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
Such a network of rivers, if it existed, would revolutionize America’s trading system and help the nation stake a claim to the contested and uncharted areas west of the Rockies.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
It left me to ponder, how do you know if you’re the Wayne Gretzky or Michael Jordan of curling or the next great star to revolutionize the sport?
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 21, 2026
Someday antibiotics will revolutionize treatment of this illness, but that is still decades away.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
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.
