Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive & intransitive verb To convert or be converted totally or partially into ions.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To Ionicize.
  • In physical chemistry: To separate into ions: said of the solvent in which an electrolyte is dissolved.
  • To produce ions in (air or other gas): said of Röntgen rays, of cathode and various other rays, of the electric field, of a glowing metal, and of violet light.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb (Physics, Chemistry) To convert (an atom or molecule) into ions, e. g. by dissolving in water, by reaction with acid or alkali, or by interaction with ionizing radiation. See ionization.
  • intransitive verb (Physics, Chemistry) to dissociate into ions, as by dissolution in water or another polar solvent.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb chemistry, physics To dissociate atoms or molecules into electrically charged species; to be thus dissociated.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb become converted into ions
  • verb convert into ions

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

ion +‎ -ize

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ionize.

Examples

  • It uses radio waves to ionize a propellant and magnetic fields to accelerate the resulting plasma to generate thrust.en. wikipedia.org/wiki/VASIMR

    October | 2009 | My[confined]Space 2009

  • It uses radio waves to ionize a propellant and magnetic fields to accelerate the resulting plasma to generate thrust.en. wikipedia.org/wiki/VASIMR

    VASIMR | My[confined]Space 2009

  • According to textbook biophysics, only radiation that has enough energy to ionize molecules — that is, knock off electrons — can trigger cancer.

    Will This Phone Kill You? 2010

  • That is, the ultraviolet radiation from those first objects had to ionize hydrogen between the galaxies, splitting it into protons an electrons.

    Archive 2008-07-23 Nicole 2008

  • After this distance, the collision rate drops off and can no longer cause the ionization of atoms however, radiative processes caused by photons from the sun can still ionize the atoms, but this is no longer indicative of the temperature of the atoms.

    Measuring the Coronal Temperature with Iron | Universe Today 2010

  • Cell phones don't emit energy great enough to ionize molecules in living cells.

    Will This Phone Kill You? 2010

  • In 1898, after laboriously isolating various substances by successive chemical reactions and crystallizations of the products, which they then tested for their ability to ionize air, the Curies announced the discovery of polonium, and then of radium salts weighing about 0.1 gram that had been derived from tons of uranium ore.

    Curie, Marie Sklodowska 2009

  • In other ion-based dryers, I'm told, the Tourmaline is sprayed on the barrel of the dryer, Soon enough, hot air wears that coating down, and the dryer loses its special powers --- that is, its ability to ionize the hot air.

    Jesse Kornbluth: Holidays '09: Ten Things to Give That Won't Be On Other Lists 2009

  • Both solar wind ions and neutrals will impact with enough energy to ionize and/or cause many reactions – 100s of eV, AFAIU, as opposed to a few eV.

    LCROSS Confirms "Buckets" of Water on the Moon | Universe Today 2009

  • Atomic vapor processes work on the principle of photo-ionization, whereby a powerful laser is used to ionize particular atoms present in a vapor of uranium metal.

    Uranium enrichment 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.