anneal

[ uh-neel ]

verb (used with object)

1. to heat (glass, earthenware, metals, etc.) to remove or prevent internal stress.
2. to free from internal stress by heating and gradually cooling.
3. to toughen or temper.
4. Biochemistry. to recombine (nucleic acid strands) at low temperature after separating by heat.
5. to fuse colors onto (a vitreous or metallic surface) by heating.

noun

1. an act, instance, or product of annealing.

anneal

/ əˈniːl /

verb

1. to temper or toughen (something) by heat treatment
2. to subject to or undergo some physical treatment, esp heating, that removes internal stress, crystal defects, and dislocations
3. tr to toughen or strengthen (the will, determination, etc)
4. often foll by out physics to disappear or cause to disappear by a rearrangement of atoms

   defects anneal out at different temperatures

noun

1. an act of annealing

Derived Forms

• anˈnealer, noun

Other Words From

• an·nealer noun
• unan·nealed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of anneal¹

before 1000; Middle English anelen, Old English anǣlan to kindle, equivalent to an- on + ǣlan to burn, akin to āl fire

Word History and Origins

Origin of anneal¹

Old English onǣlan, from on + ǣlan to burn, from āl fire

Example Sentences

The tone of the letter seems, to this reader, overly filled with shame, but it works to anneal the injury.

From New York Times

Perhaps the safest thing for everyone would be to give the man some poetry — it has a singular way of slipping through the backdoor of the psyche to anneal truth and open even the most fisted heart, “to awaken sleepers by other means than shock,” as the poet Denise Levertov put it.

From New York Times

Perhaps Rekh would now let him make leaves every day, perhaps allow him to anneal wire, spread solder just so on the boxes, and learn and become skillful.

From Literature

But in the alkaline waters of these springs, the carbonate in the water will anneal to the shell of a snail, causing snail shells to grow increasingly heavy and unwieldy.

From Scientific American

Pronk, S. & Frenkel, D. Can stacking faults in hard-sphere crystals anneal out spontaneously?

From Nature