po·lar·ized

[poh-luh-rahyzd]
adjective
1.
of or pertaining to a medium that exhibits polarization.
2.
(of an electric plug or outlet) designed so that the plug and outlet fit together in only one way.
Origin:
1920–25; polarize + -ed2

Related forms
non·po·lar·ized, adjective
un·po·lar·ized, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged

po·lar·ize

[poh-luh-rahyz] verb, po·lar·ized, po·lar·iz·ing.
verb (used with object)
1.
to cause polarization in.
2.
to divide into sharply opposing factions, political groups, etc.: The controversy has polarized voters into proabortion and antiabortion groups.
3.
to give polarity to.
verb (used without object)
4.
to become polarized.
Also, especially British, po·lar·ise.

Origin:
1805–15; polar + -ize

Related forms
po·lar·iz·a·ble, adjective
po·lar·iz·a·bil·i·ty, noun
de·po·lar·ize, verb (used with object), de·po·lar·ized, de·po·lar·iz·ing.
non·po·lar·iz·a·ble, adjective
non·po·lar·iz·ing, adjective
re·po·lar·ize, verb (used with object), re·po·lar·ized, re·po·lar·iz·ing.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To polarized
00:10
Polarized is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
polarize or polarise (ˈpəʊləˌraɪz) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—vb
1.  to acquire or cause to acquire polarity
2.  to acquire or cause to acquire polarization: to polarize light
3.  to cause people to adopt extreme opposing positions: to polarize opinion
 
polarise or polarise
 
—vb
 
'polarizable or polarise
 
—adj
 
'polarisable or polarise
 
—adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

polarize
1811, from Fr. polariser, coined by Fr. physicist Étienne-Louis Malus (1775-1812) as a term in optics. Transf. sense of "to accentuate a division in a group or system" is first recorded 1949 in Arthur Koestler.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Science Dictionary
polarize   (pō'lə-rīz')  Pronunciation Key 

  1. To separate or accumulate positive and negative electric charges in two distinct regions. Polarized objects have an electric dipole moment and will undergo torque when placed in an external electric field.

  2. To magnetize a substance so that it has the properties of a magnetic dipole, such as having a north and south pole.

  3. To cause the electrical and magnetic fields associated with electromagnetic waves, especially light, to vibrate in a particular direction or path. The transverse electric and magnetic waves always vibrate at right angles to each other, but in ordinary unpolarized light sources, the direction of polarization of each wave is randomly distributed. Light can be polarized by reflection, and by passing through certain materials. See more at polarization.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Example sentences
It's as polarized as the comments that usually follow an article on any
  government activity.
Polarized light itself eventually scatters as it travels through the murk.
Our tired, polarized politics have not caught up with these changes.
One camera receives horizontally polarized light, while the other receives
  vertically polarized light.
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