emulsify
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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emulsifies,
present (3rd person singular)
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emulsified,
past participle, past
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emulsifying
present participle
verb
Usage
What does emulsify mean? To emulsify is to form an emulsion—a mixture of two liquids that don’t fully combine. An emulsion may look like a single liquid, but it’s made up of particles of one liquid distributed throughout another liquid. For example, if you emulsify oil and water, it forms an emulsion in which small droplets of oil are suspended in the water, but the two liquids aren’t fully blended together (as they would be if you stirred together water and vinegar, for example). In technical chemistry terms, an emulsion is a colloidal suspension in which the substances mixed together are both liquids. Both colloids and suspensions involve particles of one substance distributed in another without being dissolved. Emulsions are used in a variety of contexts, including pharmacology, cooking, and photography. In cooking, liquids or liquid-like ingredients are emulsified in order to make sauces with a smooth consistency. A common example of an emulsion is the kind of salad dressings called a vinaigrette, which is made by emulsifying oil and vinegar. Example: To emulsify oil and vinegar, you have to whisk very hard to separate the oil into tiny droplets, or else the two liquids will separate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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emulsibilitynoun
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emulsifiabilitynoun
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emulsificationnoun
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emulsifiernoun
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emulsibleadjective
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emulsifiableadjective
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unemulsifiedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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emulsifysimple
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emulsifiessimple
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have emulsifiedperfect
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has emulsifiedperfect
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am emulsifyingprogressive
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are emulsifyingprogressive
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is emulsifyingprogressive
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have been emulsifyingperfect progressive
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has been emulsifyingperfect progressive
Past
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emulsifiedsimple
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had emulsifiedperfect
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was emulsifyingprogressive
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were emulsifyingprogressive
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had been emulsifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of emulsify
First recorded in 1855–60; from Latin ēmuls(us) ( see emulsion) + -ify
Explanation
When you emulsify something, you mix it so thoroughly that it becomes an emulsion, or a mixture of two liquids that can't be completely blended together. Home cooks emulsify any time they make a good oil-based salad dressing, thoroughly mixing the oil with the vinegar or other liquid ingredients. While the oil, because it's not soluble, can't be completely combined with the vinegar, you can emulsify the two so that the tiny drops of oil are dispersed across the volume of vinegar and the texture of the salad dressing is satisfying. Emulsify comes from the Latin word emulsus, or "milked out."
Vocabulary lists containing emulsify
Fast Food Nation
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Lupe Wong Won't Dance
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The therapy is a diglyceride formulation -- two omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA, bound to a glyceride molecule -- which enhances their ability to emulsify into tiny, concentrated particles.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2024
According to Rick Rogers, author of “Tips Cooks Love,” “mustard can absorb about twice its weight in liquid, so as it soaks up the vinegar and oil, it helps emulsify these two very different ingredients.”
From Washington Times ● Jun. 2, 2023
Turn blender on medium low and slowly emulsify the oil into the blender.
From Salon ● May 25, 2023
“The Good John Proctor” shares DNA with Monahon’s other plays, which thoroughly emulsify history and fiction to give voice to previously marginal figures or to connect historical events to our moment.
From New York Times ● Feb. 23, 2023
Pipette 5 c.c. sterile normal saline into each culture tube or 30 c.c. into each bottle and by means of a sterile platinum spatula emulsify the entire surface growth with the solution.
From The Elements of Bacteriological Technique A Laboratory Guide for Medical, Dental, and Technical Students. Second Edition Rewritten and Enlarged. by J. W. H. (John William Henry) Eyre
This show’s twist emulsifies the supernatural into the ludicrous.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2023
That film’s title gets reappropriated in the director Lana Wilson’s absorbing documentary, “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” which emulsifies its biography of Shields with lucid insights into the culture that shaped her.
From New York Times ● Apr. 3, 2023
The mixture will split at first, but keep on whisking until it emulsifies.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2021
Did you know molasses emulsifies the olive oil and keeps the little fat molecules from stumbling into each other, thus allowing the oil and vinegar to mix?
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 6, 2020
The washing of wool is in the main a mechanical process, in which the water dissolves out the suint while the soap emulsifies the yolk and thus removes it from the fibre.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 1 "Bisharin" to "Bohea" by Various
Even a simple vinaigrette could become something a little more luxe, fully emulsified.
From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2026
The team says that result confirmed the hypothesis that VFD processing could be a "green" one-step technique for more stable, emulsified viscous liquids.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 11, 2024
With the motor running on low, if your processor allows, slowly add the olive oil and process until smooth and emulsified.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 13, 2023
When seasoned with lemon and garlic and whisked with ice water, tahini goes from gloppy and oily to pale, thick and emulsified with a bright and pungent flavor that’s also earthy and rich.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 4, 2022
Any particle not well crushed and emulsified is passed through the intestinal canal undigested and of course unabsorbed.
From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Eleventh Annual Meeting Washington, D. C. October 7 and 8, 1920 by Northern Nut Growers Association
Not only can the emulsion split, but you can also overcook the added emulsifying egg yolk.
From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2024
Improvisatory in feel but not in fact, Mr. Roberts’s choreography merges his own distinct rhythmic sensibility with the energy signature of each dancer, emulsifying contemporary physicality and period cool.
From New York Times ● Dec. 18, 2020
Or it may contain additives such as “flavour enhancers, colours, emulsifiers, emulsifying salts, sweeteners, thickeners and anti-foaming, bulking, carbonating, foaming, gelling and glazing agents”.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 12, 2020
Therefore, emulsions are usually stabilized by an emulsifying agent, a substance that inhibits the coalescence of the dispersed liquid.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019
Almost all cleaning is simply a process of dissolving or emulsifying the dirt you want to get rid of, and washing it away with the liquid.
From Common Science by John W. (John Woodside) Ritchie
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
