verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of vitalize
Explanation
To vitalize is to enliven or excite. There's nothing like a good night's sleep to vitalize a tired child. You can use the verb vitalize to describe what happens when you become energized or perked up: "My tai chi class isn't great exercise, but it does vitalize me." A much more common, and related, word is revitalize. For some reason, vitalize is rarely used, although it's much older, first used in the 1670's, while revitalize didn't come into use until 1858 — almost two hundred years later.
Vocabulary lists containing vitalize
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.
When Goodman tackles a new project, her first priority is to “depave the landscape” so water and air can nourish plant roots and vitalize soil microbes.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 13, 2024
Smith added, “She takes class apart, she has a clear eye across the traditions that skewer us or vitalize us.”
From New York Times • Oct. 29, 2021
These two elements of the American Revolution, the sovereignty of law and the dream of liberty, vitalize each other.
From Salon • Feb. 17, 2020
As conductor he is supreme, can vitalize well-worn music as no other of the day.
From Time Magazine Archive
His is the task to develop and vitalize these smothered faculties and potentialities.
From Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence The Best Speeches Delivered by the Negro from the days of Slavery to the Present Time by Dunbar-Nelson, Alice Moore
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.
