Neutralize

How to spell neutralize

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce neutralize

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does neutralize mean?

1. verbTo counteract or cancel out the effect of something, making it ineffective or harmless.

Neutralize in a sentence

• Adding lime to the soil will neutralize its acidity.

• The security team moved quickly to neutralize the threat.

Where does neutralize come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This verb is built on the Latin word neuter, which literally meant 'neither of the two', formed from ne ('not') and uter ('either'). From neuter came the adjective 'neutral', describing something that takes neither side, which English adopted through French and Latin in the late medieval period. By the eighteenth century writers added the active suffix '-ize', meaning 'to make or render', to produce 'neutralize', literally 'to make neutral'. The chemical sense, cancelling an acid with a base so that neither dominates, and the military sense, rendering a threat ineffective, both grew naturally from that core idea of cancelling opposing forces. The spelling trap lives in the unstressed middle, where the '-tral-' can blur, and in the '-ize' ending, which competes with the British '-ise' form 'neutralise'.

How the word is built

• neutr- (from Latin neuter: neither)
• -al (adjective suffix)
• -ize (verb-forming suffix: to make)

British and American spelling

Neutralize is the American spelling. British English spells it neutralise.