Meanings
present singular third person pulverises · participle present pulverising · participle past pulverised · past pulverised · alternative pulverize
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo completely destroy, especially by crushing to fragments or a powder.
More synonyms by meaning
verbmake into a powder by breaking up or cause to become dust
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinpulverizō, pulverizāre
- Middle Englishpulverizen
- Englishpulverise
From Middle English pulverizen, from Latin pulverizō, pulverizāre, from pulvis (“powder”). Compare French pulvériser. By surface analysis, pulver (“powder”) + -ise.
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic فَتَّتَ
- فَتَّتَ (fattata)to render into dust or powder
Bulgarian разпрашавам, разпрашавам се
- разпрашавам (razprašavam)to render into dust or powder
- разпрашавам се (razprašavam se)intransitive: to be rendered into dust or powder
- разбивам (razbivam)to defeat soundly
Catalan polvoritzar
- polvoritzarto render into dust or powder
Chinese Mandarin 碾碎, 粉碎
- 碾碎 (niǎnsuì)to render into dust or powder
- 粉碎 (fěnsuì)to render into dust or powder
- 研 (yán)to render into dust or powder
Danish pulverisere, formale
- pulverisereto render into dust or powder
- formaleto render into dust or powder
- pulverisereto completely destroy
- pulverisereto defeat soundly
Dutch fijnwrijven, doen verstuiven
- fijnwrijvento render into dust or powder
- doen verstuivento render into dust or powder
- vermorzelento render into dust or powder
Finnish jauhaa, hienontaa
- jauhaato render into dust or powder
- hienontaato render into dust or powder
- jauhautuaintransitive: to be rendered into dust or powder
- hienontuaintransitive: to be rendered into dust or powder
- murskatato completely destroy
- murskatato defeat soundly
French pulvériser
- pulvériserto render into dust or powder
German pulverisieren, zerpulvern
- pulverisierento render into dust or powder
- zerpulvernto render into dust or powder
Irish múr, púdraigh
- múrto completely destroy
- púdraighto completely destroy
Italian polverizzare
- polverizzareto render into dust or powder
Latin conterō, comminuo
- conterōto render into dust or powder
- comminuoto render into dust or powder
Māori whakanehu, tāpā
- whakanehuto render into dust or powder
- tāpāto render into dust or powder
- tāpāpāto render into dust or powder
- whakanehuto completely destroy
Polish pokruszyć, sproszkować
- pokruszyćto render into dust or powder
- sproszkowaćto render into dust or powder
- obrócić się w prochintransitive: to be rendered into dust or powder
Portuguese pulverizar
- pulverizarto render into dust or powder
Romanian pulveriza
- pulverizato render into dust or powder
Russian превраща́ть в порошо́к, превраща́ться в порошо́к
- превраща́ть в порошо́к (prevraščátʹ v porošók)to render into dust or powder
- превраща́ться в порошо́к (prevraščátʹsja v porošók)intransitive: to be rendered into dust or powder
- дроби́ть (drobítʹ)to completely destroy
- измельча́ть (izmelʹčátʹ)to completely destroy
- распыля́ть (raspyljátʹ)to completely destroy
Scottish Gaelic meil, meil
- meilto render into dust or powder
- meilto completely destroy
Spanish pulverizar, polvorizar
- pulverizarto render into dust or powder
- polvorizarto render into dust or powder
- polvificarto render into dust or powder
Swedish pulverisera
- pulveriserato render into dust or powder
Thai บด, บดเป็นผง
- บด (bòt)to render into dust or powder
- บดเป็นผงto render into dust or powder
- ภัสมธุลีto render into dust or powder
- บด (bòt)intransitive: to be rendered into dust or powder
- บดเป็นผงintransitive: to be rendered into dust or powder
- ภัสมธุลีintransitive: to be rendered into dust or powder
- บด (bòt)to completely destroy
- ทำให้แหลกto completely destroy
Yiddish פּולוועריזירן
- פּולוועריזירן (pulverizirn)to render into dust or powder
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
pulverise. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pulverise
“pulverise.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pulverise. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pulverise,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pulverise.
Source: pulverise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.