stabilize
Americanverb (used with object)
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stabilizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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stabilized,
past participle, past
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stabilizing
present participle
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to make or hold stable, firm, or steadfast.
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to maintain at a given or unfluctuating level or quantity.
The government will try to stabilize the cost of living.
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Aeronautics. to put or keep (an aircraft) in stable equilibrium, as by some special device.
verb (used without object)
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stabilizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stabilized,
past participle, past
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stabilizing
present participle
verb
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to make or become stable or more stable
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to keep or be kept stable
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to put or keep (an aircraft, vessel, etc) in equilibrium by one or more special devices, or (of an aircraft, vessel, etc) to become stable
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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stabilizationnoun
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restabilizeverb (used with object)
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self-stabilizedadjective
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self-stabilizingadjective
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unstabilizedadjective
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unstabilizingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stabilizesimple
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stabilizessimple
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have stabilizedperfect
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has stabilizedperfect
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am stabilizingprogressive
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are stabilizingprogressive
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is stabilizingprogressive
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have been stabilizingperfect progressive
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has been stabilizingperfect progressive
Past
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stabilizedsimple
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had stabilizedperfect
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was stabilizingprogressive
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were stabilizingprogressive
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had been stabilizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stabilize
Explanation
The verb stabilize means to hold steady or make firm. When you climb a ladder, you should stabilize the ladder before you get on it, otherwise you may get a lesson in the laws of gravity — you know, what goes up comes down! The verb stabilize also means to keep from changing or shifting. If you have a fever and your temperature is all over the place, you can help stabilize it by taking aspirin. The verb stabilize was originally applied to ships and the idea that something like weight or the shape of the ship could be used to produce a steadier, or less wobbly, voyage. Now the verb applies to anything that can be made more steady or stable. You might remember how happy you were when learning to ride a bike that you had training wheels to stabilize you.
Vocabulary lists containing stabilize
Hatchet
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Purple Hibiscus
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Human Impacts on Earth Systems - Introductory
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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:
"Disorder can stabilize networks, but only when the node dynamics are rich enough," Motter said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
In June, Barrow admitted that The Gambia owed money to Senegal's public electricity provider, Senelec, explaining that the financial strain has complicated efforts to stabilize the power supply.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Suppose the Fed raises rates and longer-term Treasury yields subsequently stabilize or fall.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
With publicly held U.S. debt having crossed 100% of gross domestic product, forecasters say that achieving 3% to 4% growth over a decade could help stabilize the debt ratio.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
According to this concept you first needed to blast out of the atmosphere and stabilize a mother spacecraft inside of Earth’s orbit.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
If gold stabilizes quickly despite tighter monetary policy, investors should ask why.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
In many cases, people taking GLP-1 drugs have reported that their hair begins growing again several months after their weight stabilizes.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
Even if the Iran conflict cools and oil stabilizes, a powerful El Niño could keep pressure on essential prices through the end of 2026 and into 2027.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
An IPO base is a period that happens within the first 25 days of trading where a stock stabilizes and trades in a narrow range.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
This model sends to PSM a less catastrophic message, which stabilizes the situation.
From The Brain, A Decoded Enigma by Dorin Teodor Moisa
U.S. stock futures were steady and oil edged lower in early European trade as market sentiment stabilized ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy rate decision later Wednesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Micron stock has stabilized following an AI slowdown panic but it still has to deal with union demands in Taiwan.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
Treasury yields stabilized after hitting new multiyear highs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
"This way, the entangled qubit state is stabilized, even beyond the qubits' own 'lifetime', and remains always available as a resource for further quantum processing. This makes the approach conceptually significant."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
The city had stabilized and healed—but he had been left permanently scarred.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
"Simplified models can inadvertently strip away the very stabilizing effect we want to capture."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
"We found pronounced development in the upper limbs of these individuals, which correlates to repetitive, high-intensity actions like pulling a bowstring or stabilizing a weapon, proving these activities were habitual throughout their lives," explained Hashesh.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
A second economic support is that Japan’s labor market is stabilizing “and potentially starting to strengthen,” he says.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Well in advance of the looming 2032 deadline, Congress and the administration should convene a bipartisan commission to produce balanced proposals for stabilizing the system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
I stood up, stabilizing myself with one hand on the bed.
From "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher
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.
