sanitize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to free from dirt, germs, etc., as by cleaning or sterilizing.
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to make less offensive by eliminating anything unwholesome, objectionable, incriminating, etc..
to sanitize a document before releasing it to the press.
verb
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to make sanitary or hygienic, as by sterilizing
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to omit unpleasant details from (a news report, document, etc) to make it more palatable to the recipients
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sanitizesimple
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sanitizessimple
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have sanitizedperfect
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has sanitizedperfect
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am sanitizingprogressive
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are sanitizingprogressive
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is sanitizingprogressive
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have been sanitizingperfect progressive
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has been sanitizingperfect progressive
Past
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sanitizedsimple
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had sanitizedperfect
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was sanitizingprogressive
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were sanitizingprogressive
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had been sanitizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sanitize
First recorded in 1830–40; sanit(ary) + -ize
Explanation
To sanitize something is to make it extremely clean. After watching you play with your slobbery dog, your fastidious friend might insist that you sanitize your hands before sitting down to dinner. When you clean or sterilize something, particularly for reasons of good health (like not spreading germs), you can say that you sanitize it. You can also use this verb in a figurative way, whenever you "clean" something: "She doesn't want to risk alienating her audience, so she sanitizes her speech to remove anything that might offend them." The Latin root is sanitas, "health."
Vocabulary lists containing sanitize
Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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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.
See Examples For:
“I think it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize accurate reporting,” Alfonsi told the New York Times of her firing.
From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2026
CBS News didn’t renew correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi’s contract, which she said was a move to penalize her for refusing to sanitize reporting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
And the cartoonish portrayal of combat using childlike blocky figures helps to sanitize gritty images of war, helping it to get past social media filters—and pushing it far beyond Iran’s borders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
But the governing body for more than half a million young athletes must remember nothing will ever sanitize that industry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2025
“Well, they have to clean the whole car and sanitize everything. We might as well settle in.”
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
“Using a smartphone application sanitizes things and makes it feel like it’s safe and unbiased,” said Ari Sawyer, a border researcher for Human Rights Watch.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2024
Episodes emphasize a brightness and zest to overpower the shades of blue written into Lancashire's character, an approach that also sanitizes the battles women like Bradford's Alice Naman had to fight.
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2022
It cleans its contaminated sewage with an anaerobic reactor that sanitizes by biological means.
From New York Times ● Dec. 21, 2021
Loop, a two-year-old company that collects and sanitizes reusable containers, said Wednesday it’s expanding after successful trials at groceries in France and Japan.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2021
It always ends back up the mountain, where he empties the tanks into his home cistern, sanitizes the contents with bleach, then pumps it into his home for bathing and washing clothes.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 27, 2021
Today’s musician biopics are almost always overly sanitized stories approved by the artist or their estate.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
My generation got a much more sanitized version of that childhood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
The closest Sabbs and Colvin came to deviating from McDonald’s sanitized version of events came when the directors recognized the role Geoghan played in launching the Games.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
Instead of choosing something sanitized, I blurted out my actual most embarrassing moment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
They actually thought about handing their winnings over to some certified, qualified, sanitized, honest-to-God professional investor to run the money for them.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Then, once the athletes are sitting comfortably, he recommends they use sanitizing wipes to clean any areas they might touch: the seat belt, arm rests, air nozzle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2025
Although called out for sanitizing the queer, vocally gifted musician’s private — and not-so-private — life, the movie was nominated for five Oscars, including best picture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2025
Years ago, Douthat might have been accused of sanitizing the figures who appear on his podcast or of providing intellectual cover to the legitimately unhinged.
From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2025
“This comes in the form of communications and branding standards. Is that going to be the next frontier in sanitizing the realities of our differences? ”
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
He didn’t notice that they’d gone through another set of sliding glass doors until the puff of sanitizing air hit his skin again.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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.
