vaporize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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to become converted into vapor.
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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
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.
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
This robotic mission is designed to search for volatiles, which are molecules that easily vaporize, like water and carbon dioxide, at lunar temperatures.
From Salon • Dec. 29, 2023
When small pieces of space debris collide, they blow up into tiny fragments, some of which vaporize into a charged gas due to the heat generated by the impact.
From Science Daily • Dec. 4, 2023
Earlier researchers “didn’t think a lot about what happens to things that vaporize during reentry. Of course they can’t disappear. They’ve got to go somewhere,” Murphy says.
From Scientific American • Oct. 26, 2023
Riding full gallop on a beast that could vaporize at any moment made her a bit nervous.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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.
