Meanings
present singular third person neutralizes · participle present neutralizing · participle past neutralized · past neutralized · alternative neutralise
- transitiveTo make (something) even, inactive or ineffective.
The antidote neutralized the toxin.
1 more example
It’s possible that some microbes don’t just take up residence in tumors but help them grow. They may cloak the tumor from the immune system, neutralize drugs or help tumors spread through the body.
2022 September 29, Carl Zimmer, “A New Approach to Spotting Tumors: Look for Their Microbes”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 01 Dec 2022Synonyms: counteract, counterweigh
- transitiveTo make (a territory, etc.) politically neutral.
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.
1965, United States. Congress. Senate, Hearings, volume 1, page 77 - euphemistictransitivegovernmentTo kill.
“We managed to neutralise the guilty person. So there was no longer any imminent threat,” De Croo said, […]
2023 October 17, Lisa O'Carroll, Miranda Bryant, Lorenzo Tondo, quoting Alexander De Croo, “Killing of two Swedish football fans in Brussels ‘probably lone wolf’ attack”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 02 Dec 20231 more example
At the beginning of the opening game, Shepard becomes the first human Spectre, an elite operative given broad authority to neutralize threats to galactic order in the galaxy.
2019, “Mass Effect (Trilogy)”, in Michael M. Levy, Farah Mendlesohn, editors, Aliens in Popular Culture, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 175
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo make (something) even, inactive or ineffective.
More synonyms by meaning
verboppose and mitigate the effects of by contrary actions
verbget rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchneutraliser
- Englishneutralize
From French neutraliser (first attested in 1642). By surface analysis, neutral + -ize.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian неутрализирам, неутрализирам
- неутрализирам (neutraliziram)to make even, inactive or ineffective
- неутрализирам (neutraliziram)To make chemically neutral
Catalan neutralitzar
- neutralitzarto make even, inactive or ineffective
Chinese Mandarin 中和, 抵消
- 中和 (zhōnghé)to make even, inactive or ineffective
- 抵消 (dǐxiāo)to make even, inactive or ineffective
Danish neutralisere
- neutralisereto make even, inactive or ineffective
Dutch neutraliseren
- neutraliserento make even, inactive or ineffective
Esperanto neŭtraligi
- neŭtraligito make even, inactive or ineffective
Finnish neutraloida, neutralisoida
- neutraloidato make even, inactive or ineffective
- neutralisoidato make even, inactive or ineffective
French neutraliser, neutraliser
- neutraliserto make even, inactive or ineffective
- neutraliserTo make chemically neutral
German neutralisieren
- neutralisierento make even, inactive or ineffective
Greek εξουδετερώνω, εξουδετερώνω
- εξουδετερώνω (exoudeteróno)to make even, inactive or ineffective
- εξουδετερώνω (exoudeteróno)To make chemically neutral
Hebrew לְנַטְרֵל, לְנַטְרֵל
- לְנַטְרֵל (lenatrél)to make even, inactive or ineffective
- לְנַטְרֵל (lenatrél)To make chemically neutral
- לְנַטְרֵל (lenatrél)To kill (euphemism)
Hungarian semlegesít, semlegesít
- semlegesítto make even, inactive or ineffective
- semlegesítTo make chemically neutral
Irish neodraigh
- neodraighto make even, inactive or ineffective
Italian neutralizzare, neutralizzare
- neutralizzareto make even, inactive or ineffective
- neutralizzareTo make chemically neutral
Japanese 中和する, 相殺する
- 中和する (chūwa suru)to make even, inactive or ineffective
- 相殺する (sōsai suru)to make even, inactive or ineffective
Korean 중화하다
- 중화하다 (junghwahada)to make even, inactive or ineffective
Latvian neitralizēt
- neitralizētto make even, inactive or ineffective
Māori whakangū, whakaruhi
- whakangūto make even, inactive or ineffective
- whakaruhito make even, inactive or ineffective
- whakangoikoreto make even, inactive or ineffective
- whakangūTo make chemically neutral
Norwegian Bokmål nøytralisere
- nøytralisereto make even, inactive or ineffective
Polish neutralizować, zneutralizować
- neutralizowaćto make even, inactive or ineffective
- zneutralizowaćto make even, inactive or ineffective
- neutralizowaćTo make chemically neutral
- zneutralizowaćTo make chemically neutral
- neutralizowaćTo kill (euphemism)
- zneutralizowaćTo kill (euphemism)
Portuguese neutralizar
- neutralizarto make even, inactive or ineffective
Romanian neutraliza
- neutralizato make even, inactive or ineffective
Russian нейтрализова́ть
- нейтрализова́ть (nejtralizovátʹ)to make even, inactive or ineffective
Spanish neutralizar
- neutralizarto make even, inactive or ineffective
Swedish neutralisera
- neutraliserato make even, inactive or ineffective
Turkish etkisiz hale getirmek
- etkisiz hale getirmekTo kill (euphemism)
Ukrainian нейтралізува́ти
- нейтралізува́ти (nejtralizuváty)to make even, inactive or ineffective
Vietnamese trung lập hóa, trung hòa
- trung lập hóato make even, inactive or ineffective
- trung hòato make even, inactive or ineffective
- trung hòaTo make chemically neutral
Cite this entry
neutralize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/neutralize
“neutralize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/neutralize. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “neutralize,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/neutralize.
Source: neutralize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.