Word.ws English Dictionary

degauss

Syllables: de·gaussUK/diːˈɡaʊs/

degauss verb: to reduce or eliminate the magnetic field from (the hull of a ship, or a computer monitor, etc.).

Verb

degauss (third-person singular simple present degausses, present participle degaussing, simple past and past participle degaussed)

  1. (transitive) To reduce or eliminate the magnetic field from (the hull of a ship, or a computer monitor, etc.).
    • Despite sustaining some damage from air attacks, it was used as a mooring point for large landing crafts with a deep draught in the lead-up to the D-Day landings, and later for the purpose of degaussing vessels.2020 October 21, Dr Joseph Brennan, “From the main line and over the waves”, in Rail, page 59
    Synonyms:
    demagnetise, deperm

Noun

degauss (plural degausses)

  1. The act by which something is degaussed.
    Synonyms:
    deperm

Synonyms of degauss

Forms of degauss

Verb
third-person singular presentdegausses
present participledegaussing
past participledegaussed
pastdegaussed
Noun
pluraldegausses

Origin of degauss

From de- + gauss (“unit of magnetic field strength”). A neologism coined by then-Commander Charles F. Goodeve, RCNVR, during World War II.

Words formed from degauss

Words that rhyme with degauss

10 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about degauss

What does degauss mean?
Degauss means to reduce or eliminate the magnetic field from (the hull of a ship, or a computer monitor, etc.).
What part of speech is degauss?
Degauss can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce degauss?
Degauss is pronounced /diːˈɡaʊs/ (UK).
What is the past tense of degauss?
The past tense of degauss is degaussed.

Words near degauss in the dictionary

  1. degassing
  2. degate
  3. degated
  4. degates
  5. degating
  6. degauss
  7. degaussed
  8. degausser
  9. degaussers
  10. degausses
  11. degaussing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: degauss (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:

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

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