devocalize
devocalize verb: to make toneless; to deprive of vowel quality.
Verb
devocalize (third-person singular simple present devocalizes, present participle devocalizing, simple past and past participle devocalized)
- To make toneless; to deprive of vowel quality.
- If we take a high vowel […] and devocalise it, we obtain a hiss […]1877, Henry Sweet, A Handbook of Phonetics
- To reduce the volume of the vocalizations of (an animal) by surgically removing tissue from its vocal cords.
- To remove the vocals of a song with an AI program creating a false instrumental with imperfections (vocal shadows).
Synonyms of devocalize
Forms of devocalize
| third-person singular present | devocalizes |
|---|---|
| present participle | devocalizing |
| past participle | devocalized |
| past | devocalized |
Origin of devocalize
From de- + vocalize.
Questions about devocalize
- What does devocalize mean?
- Devocalize means to make toneless; to deprive of vowel quality.
- What part of speech is devocalize?
- Devocalize is a verb.
- What is the past tense of devocalize?
- The past tense of devocalize is devocalized.
Words near devocalize in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: devocalize (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:
Cite this entry: “devocalize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/devocalize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
