Meanings
present singular third person metabolizes · participle present metabolizing · participle past metabolized · past metabolized · alternative metabolise
- intransitivebiologyTo undergo metabolism.
- transitivebiologyTo cause a substance to undergo metabolism.
Among the many types of juice, grapefruit stands out from the pack because it changes the way some people absorb and metabolize different drugs.
2004, Walter C. Willett, “News About What You Drink”, in Mother Earth News1 more example
The genes in question encode two enzymes that metabolize alcohol and its breakdown products; the two enzymes are known as alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase.
2004–05, Dustin Stephens, Robert Dudley, “The Drunken Monkey Hypothesis”, in Journal of Natural History, page 43 - transitivebiologyTo produce a substance using metabolism.
- broadlytransitiveTo absorb and process as if by metabolism.
We believe this to be the true way to teach zoölogy, for we doubt the value to a man of a mass of indefinite ill-digested text-book information. Occasionally an omnivore can take in every thing, and digest and so metabolize it as to organize it into healthy mental tissue. They are, however, the few.
1887 March 18, L. H., “Zoölogy in the college course”, in Science, volume IX, number 215, page 264
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekμετᾰβολή“change, mutation”
- Englishmetabolize
From Ancient Greek μετᾰβολή (metăbolḗ, “change, mutation”) + -ize.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic أَيَّضَ, أَيَّضَ
- أَيَّضَ (ʔayyaḍa)to cause a substance to undergo metabolism
- أَيَّضَ (ʔayyaḍa)to produce a substance using metabolism
Esperanto metaboliĝi
- metaboliĝito cause a substance to undergo metabolism
Icelandic breytast við lífræn efnaskipti
- breytast við lífræn efnaskipti(intransitive) to undergo metabolism
Portuguese metabolizar
- metabolizar(intransitive) to undergo metabolism
Russian метаболизироваться
- метаболизироваться (metabolizirovatʹsja)(intransitive) to undergo metabolism
Cite this entry
metabolize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metabolize
“metabolize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metabolize. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “metabolize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metabolize.
Source: metabolize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.