neutralize

Etymology

It is borrowed from French neutraliser,^[2][3][4] formed from neutral and -iser;^[2] in French it meant "to remain neutral" from 1564, "to make chemically neutral" from 1776 and "to render inoffensive" from 1789.^[2] The OED compares Medieval Latin neutralisō (“to remain neutral”), recorded from 1411,^[2] and the Shorter Oxford takes the obsolete sense "to remain neutral" from that Latin verb.^[5] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com analyse it instead as from English neutral + -ize.^[6][7] The adjective goes back to Latin neutrālis.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To remain neutral: 1642, in Grosse's Sweet and Soule-perswading Inducements, a sense obsolete by 1665;^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1660s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

To make an acid or alkali chemically neutral is recorded from 1744,^[2][6] 1734 according to Etymonline.^[3] The general sense "to counterbalance, to render ineffective" is in Burke, before 1797,^[2][3] and the political sense "to make a state neutral, to exclude a place from warfare" from 1813.^[2] The 19th century added making something electrically neutral (1814) and inactivating a toxin or pathogen (1803).^[2] From 1937, at first in the United States, it was used of putting an enemy out of action, and euphemistically of killing someone;^[2] Etymonline dates the underworld sense "to kill" by 1987.^[3] Later technical senses include cancelling feedback in an amplifier (1924) and, in linguistics, removing a contrast between phonemes in a given position (1957).^[2]

Timeline

• 1642 – to remain neutral (obsolete by 1665).^[2]
• 1744 – to make chemically neutral.^[2][6]
• before 1797 – to counterbalance, to render ineffective.^[2][3]
• 1803 – to inactivate a toxin or pathogen.^[2]
• 1813 – to make a state neutral; to exclude a place from warfare.^[2]
• 1814 – to make electrically neutral.^[2]
• 1902 – in motor racing and cycling, to exclude a section of a course from the result.^[2]
• 1937 – to put an enemy out of action; to kill.^[2]
• 1957 – in linguistics, to remove a contrast between phonemes.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make ineffective by an opposite force or effect; to counteract: The new policy neutralized his advantage.^[8][9][6]
2. (chemistry) To make a solution neither acidic nor alkaline: Lime was added to neutralize the soil.^[8][9][6]
3. To make electrically neutral.^[9][2]
4. To declare a country or area neutral and exclude it from war.^[8][9][2]
5. (medicine) To counteract the effect of a drug or toxin.^[8][2]
6. (slang) To put out of action or kill an enemy.^[8][2]
7. (obsolete, 1642–1665) To remain neutral.^[2][5]

Word family

• neutralizer
• neutralization
• overneutralize
• reneutralize

Related words

• neutral
• neuter
• neutrality

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins