crystallize

/ˈkɹɪstəlaɪz/

crystallize verb: to make something form into crystals.

Verb

crystallize (third-person singular simple present crystallizes, present participle crystallizing, simple past and past participle crystallized)

(transitive) To make something form into crystals.
- I crystallized the copper sulfate by slowly cooling a saturated solution.
(intransitive) To assume a crystalline form.
- The copper sulphate crystallized from solution.
(figuratively, transitive) To give a definite or precise form to (something).
- After some thought, I crystallized my ideas for the paper.
- Two events from the past week help crystallize this strange, contradictory moment for the U.S. economy.2026 June 13, Ben Casselman, “Wages Are Falling. Wealth Is Surging. No Wonder Americans Are Unhappy.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
(figuratively, intransitive) To take a definite form.
- My ideas crystallized overnight.
- The situation did crystallize, if painfully, under the stars, and by morning each knew what he must confess.1957, Patrick White, chapter 12, in Voss
(transitive) To coat something with crystals, especially with sugar.
- We crystallized the fruit by coating in sugar.

crystallize meaning in Tamil, Kannada, Malay and Thai

crystallize in Tamil

படிகமாக்கு, படிகங்களாகு, பளிங்காகு, மணி உருப்படுத்து, மணி உருப்பெறு, உறுதிப்பெறு

crystallize in Malay

to make something form into crystals: menghablurkan, mengkristalkan
to coat with crystals: menghablur, mengkristal

crystallize in Thai

to make something form into crystals: ตกผลึก dtòk-pà-lʉ̀k

More languagesFewer languages

crystallize in Vietnamese: kết tinh

Examples of crystallize in a sentence

The major reason that bread stales is not moisture loss, but rather a process called retrogradation, in which the starch molecules in the bread crystallize.
Gerald's special mixture of laziness and ambition seemed to crystallize under the camera into brutal bumptiousness.
Glass windows replaced the old tiny windows of selenite (crystallized gypsum), and stovepipe replaced adobe chimneys.

All 27 example sentences with crystallize

Forms of crystallize

third-person singular present	crystallizes
present participle	crystallizing
past participle	crystallized
past	crystallized
alternative US	crystalize
alternative form	crystallise
alternative form	crystalise

Past tense of crystallize: crystallized

Origin of crystallize

From crystal + -ize. The double l reflects the classical stem found in its etyma, Latin crystallus and Ancient Greek κρύσταλλος (krústallos), rather than the simplified spelling of the English base noun. Compare Hellenistic Greek κρυσταλλίζειν (krustallízein, “to shine like crystal”), post‐classical Latin crystallizare (“to change into crystal”), and French cristalliser.

Words formed from crystallize

Questions about crystallize

What does crystallize mean?: Crystallize means to make something form into crystals.
What is crystallize in Tamil?: Crystallize in Tamil is படிகமாக்கு, படிகங்களாகு, பளிங்காகு. See Crystallize meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is crystallize?: Crystallize is a verb.
How do you pronounce crystallize?: Crystallize is pronounced /ˈkɹɪstəlaɪz/.
What is the past tense of crystallize?: The past tense of crystallize is crystallized.

Words near crystallize in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: crystallize (page history and authors); crystallize (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); crystallize (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-crystalize.ogg.

Cite this entry: “crystallize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crystallize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.