vaporize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
vaporizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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vaporized,
past participle, past
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vaporizing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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vaporizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
vaporized,
past participle, past
-
vaporizing
present participle
-
to become converted into vapor.
-
to indulge in boastful talk; speak braggingly.
verb
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to change or cause to change into vapour or into the gaseous state
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to evaporate or disappear or cause to evaporate or disappear, esp suddenly
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to destroy or be destroyed by being turned into a gas as a result of extreme heat (for example, generated by a nuclear explosion)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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vaporizesimple
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vaporizessimple
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have vaporizedperfect
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has vaporizedperfect
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am vaporizingprogressive
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are vaporizingprogressive
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is vaporizingprogressive
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have been vaporizingperfect progressive
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has been vaporizingperfect progressive
Past
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vaporizedsimple
-
had vaporizedperfect
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was vaporizingprogressive
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were vaporizingprogressive
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had been vaporizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of vaporize
Explanation
To vaporize is to evaporate and turn into gas. If you're watching a sci-fi movie, it probably means to vanish quickly or be utterly obliterated by a phaser gun. As the structure of the word suggests, vaporize means "turn into vapor." Sometimes this means just turning into gas, like when boiling water turns into steam and rises into the atmosphere. Other times, something more concentrated is left behind, like when maple sap is boiled down into syrup. And in the greenhouse (or grocery store produce section), to vaporize is also to spray your green things with a light coating of mist.
Vocabulary lists containing vaporize
Cosmos
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"The Hunger Games," Chapter 2 Vocabulary
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Locomotion
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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:
At the Omega Laser Facility, researchers used intense laser energy to vaporize the outer layer of a tiny sample.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
Inside, a high-powered laser fires bursts of light to flatten and vaporize tiny drops of molten tin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026
As the kettle heats further, chemicals with higher boiling points vaporize and then are condensed and collected.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2023
The compressed air starts to glow, and when it reaches a temperature of about 2,000 degrees Celsius, the solid material in the meteoroid starts to vaporize.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 8, 2023
Maybe you and Dad can try again— Suddenly the door of the utility closet flew open, and the weight on Roy’s chest seemed to vaporize.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
Its outer layer vaporizes and becomes an electrically charged gas, causing the object to glow brightly.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2026
When a single research report vaporizes hundreds of billions in market cap, institutional investors have already modeled their own displacement.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 19, 2026
The organic matter in a person’s body, I was told, vaporizes when burned hot enough, leaving behind the pulverized, inorganic substance we call ashes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2025
Patagonia is collecting end-of-life wet suits for a partner that vaporizes them to reclaim what’s known as carbon black, a key ingredient in neoprene and in the natural rubber Patagonia uses.
From Seattle Times ● May 12, 2024
It's a sullen, vindictive cold outside, colder than it's been in months, and my breath vaporizes as we hurry along the canal.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
The impact likely vaporized huge quantities of rock and hurled material into space.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026
While some of the EAC’s functions are useful, the November elections would go on even if the agency were hit by an asteroid and vaporized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Other human remains found elsewhere in Herculaneum had iron oxide deposits in the skull, suggesting that the fluids in the skull were vaporized by the heat, leaving only traces of degraded heme proteins.
From Salon ● Mar. 4, 2025
“There’s another element there that I think is the key element, and that is an agreed upon hierarchy, which I think is absolutely vaporized in today’s moment,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2024
By the time he’d been in Da Nang a few months, Oshiro’s feeling of invincibility had vaporized.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
In January 2002, Global Crossing filed for bankruptcy, vaporizing tens of billions in market value.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
As the ice keeps vaporizing, it gradually slides downhill, carving a long, deep trench with ridges on either side.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025
It does sound magical that a human being could turn into glass, but far better if studying the Guardian can prevent vaporizing, volatilization and vitrification — or saponification — of anyone else.
From Salon ● Mar. 4, 2025
The polluted water oozing out of Chiquita Canyon contains cancer-causing benzene and other chemicals, which environmental regulators fear is vaporizing and drifting into nearby communities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2024
Glowing droplets of eau de toilette streamed out behind me, instantly vaporizing into a silver mist that caught the eddies and spread, seeding the cloud.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
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.
