devocalize

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English

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Alternative forms

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devocalise

Etymology

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From de- +‎ vocalize.

Verb

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devocalize (third-person singular simple present devocalizes, present participle devocalizing, simple past and past participle devocalized)

  1. (transitive, phonetics) To make toneless; to deprive of vowel quality.
    • 1877, Henry Sweet, A Handbook of Phonetics:
      If we take a high vowel [] and devocalise it, we obtain a hiss []
  2. (transitive) To reduce the volume of the vocalizations of (an animal) by surgically removing tissue from its vocal cords.
    Synonyms: debark, disbark
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References

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