revolutionize

[ rev-uh-loo-shuh-nahyz ]
See synonyms for: revolutionizerevolutionizedrevolutionizing on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),rev·o·lu·tion·ized, rev·o·lu·tion·iz·ing.
  1. to bring about a revolution in; effect a radical change in: to revolutionize petroleum refining methods.

  2. to subject to a political revolution.

Origin of revolutionize

1
First recorded in 1790–1800; revolution + -ize
  • Also especially British, rev·o·lu·tion·ise .

Other words from revolutionize

  • rev·o·lu·tion·iz·er, noun
  • qua·si-rev·o·lu·tion·ized, adjective
  • un·rev·o·lu·tion·ized, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use revolutionize in a sentence

  • Both parties knew that it was the fixed intention of the French to revolutionise Naples.

  • If it's what he thinks—if he can really cast his brass patterns without air-holes—it will revolutionise our business.

    April Hopes | William Dean Howells
  • Miss Kate Vaughan, at the Gaiety, is already beginning to revolutionise stage dancing, making it at once graceful and decorous.

    A Book of Burlesque | Willam Davenport Adams
  • Men have tried to turn "revolutionise" from a transitive to an intransitive verb.

    Orthodoxy | G. K. Chesterton
  • Supposing he intends to reform and revolutionise Society at large by sublime self-sacrifice.

    Oscar Wilde | Leonard Cresswell Ingleby

British Dictionary definitions for revolutionize

revolutionize

revolutionise

/ (ˌrɛvəˈluːʃəˌnaɪz) /


verb(tr)
  1. to bring about a radical change in: science has revolutionized civilization

  2. to inspire or infect with revolutionary ideas: they revolutionized the common soldiers

  1. to cause a revolution in (a country, etc)

Derived forms of revolutionize

  • revolutionizer or revolutioniser, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012