Meanings
present singular third person devitalizes · participle present devitalizing · participle past devitalized · past devitalized
- figurativelytransitiveliteralTo deprive of vitality; to make lifeless; to weaken.
Near-synonym: deanimate
3 more examples
Noncrushing surgical clamps avoid devitalizing the cells of arterial walls.
Economic stress has devitalized some shopping malls in the web era.
Not so long ago a Scotsman is reported to have exhumed the body of his daughter and burnt her heart, as he thought she was devitalising her remaining brother and sister and making them ill.
1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 126Synonyms: deanimate · Antonyms: animate, reanimate, rejuvenate, revitalize, vitalize
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo deprive of vitality; to make lifeless; to weaken.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*de
- Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
- Proto-Italic*dē
- Latindē
- Latindē-
- Englishde-
- Englishvitalize
- Englishdevitalize
Translations
German abtöten
- abtöten1. To deprive of vitality
Cite this entry
devitalize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devitalize
“devitalize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devitalize. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “devitalize,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devitalize.
Source: devitalize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.