Word.ws English Dictionary

immobilise

immobilise is the alternative spelling of immobilize.

Meaning of immobilize

Verb

immobilize (third-person singular simple present immobilizes, present participle immobilizing, simple past and past participle immobilized)

  1. (transitive) To render motionless; to stop moving or stop from moving.
    • It is best to immobilize the injury until a doctor can examine it.
    Synonyms:
    freeze
  2. (transitive) To render incapable of action.
    • It's clear from these [budget] cuts that the MCAD is virtually immobilized as an effective organization for at least the next year.1975 December 27, “Editorial”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 26, page 4
  3. (transitive) To modify a surface such that things will not stick to it
  4. (transitive) To tie up a capital: make a capital investment that makes that capital unavailable.
    • Don't immobilize your capital in aging accounts.

Forms of immobilise

third-person singular presentimmobilises
present participleimmobilising
past participleimmobilised
pastimmobilised

Origin of immobilise

From French immobiliser, equivalent to immobile + -ise.

Words formed from immobilise

Questions about immobilise

What is immobilise the alternative spelling of?
Immobilise is the alternative spelling of immobilize.

Words near immobilise in the dictionary

  1. immobilin
  2. immobilisate
  3. immobilisates
  4. immobilisation
  5. immobilisations
  6. immobilise
  7. immobilised
  8. immobiliser
  9. immobilisers
  10. immobilises
  11. immobilising

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: immobilise (page history and authors); immobilize (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-immobilise.wav.

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