neutralize

English

Alternative forms

• neutralise (non-Oxford British spelling)

Etymology

From French neutraliser. Surface etymology is neutral +‎ -ize.

Pronunciation

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Verb

neutralize (third-person singular simple present neutralizes, present participle neutralizing, simple past and past participle neutralized)

1. (transitive) To make even, inactive or ineffective.

   The antidote neutralised the toxin.

2. (transitive) To make (a territory, etc.) politically neutral.
   • 1965, United States. Congress. Senate, Hearings, volume 1, page 77:

     All the powers involved are committed not only to stay out of a given territory, but also to reenter it if any one of them violates the independence of the neutralized country.

3. (transitive, chemistry) To make (an acidic or alkaline substance) chemically neutral.
4. (transitive, military, euphemistic) To kill.

Synonyms

• counteract
• counterweigh

Related terms

• gender-neutralize
• neutralization

Translations

to make even, inactive or ineffective

• Albanian: asnjanësoj (sq)
• Armenian: չեզոքացնել (hy) (čʿezokʿacʿnel)
• Asturian: neutralizar
• Belarusian: нейтралізава́ць impf or pf (njejtralizavácʹ)
• Bulgarian: неутрализирам (bg) (neutraliziram)
• Catalan: neutralitzar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 中和 (zh) (zhōnghé), 抵消 (zh) (dǐxiāo)

• Danish: neutralisere
• Dutch: neutraliseren (nl)
• Esperanto: neŭtraligi
• Finnish: neutraloida (fi), neutralisoida (fi)
• French: neutraliser (fr)
• Galician: neutralizar
• German: neutralisieren (de)
• Greek: εξουδετερώνω (el) (exoudeteróno)
• Hebrew: לְנַטְרֵל‎ (lenatrél)
• Hungarian: semlegesít (hu)
• Interlingua: neutralisar
• Irish: neodraigh
• Italian: neutralizzare (it)
• Japanese: 中和する (ja) (ちゅうわする, chūwa suru), 相殺する (ja) (そうさいする, sōsai suru)
• Korean: 중화하다 (junghwahada)
• Latvian: neitralizēt
• Maori: whakangū, whakaruhi, whakangoikore
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nøytralisere

  Nynorsk: nøytralisere, nøytralisera

• Polish: neutralizować (pl)
• Portuguese: neutralizar (pt)
• Romanian: neutraliza (ro)
• Russian: нейтрализова́ть (ru) impf or pf (nejtralizovátʹ)
• Spanish: neutralizar (es)
• Swedish: neutralisera (sv)
• Ukrainian: нейтралізува́ти impf or pf (nejtralizuváty)

To make chemically neutral

• Bulgarian: неутрализирам (bg) (neutraliziram)
• Hebrew: לְנַטְרֵל‎ (lenatrél)
• Italian: neutralizzare (it)

To kill (euphemism)

• Hebrew: לְנַטְרֵל‎ (lenatrél)
• Turkish: etkisiz hale getirmek

Portuguese

Verb

neutralize

1. inflection of neutralizar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative