metabolize

American  

[muh-tab-uh-lahyz] / məˈtæb əˌlaɪz /

especially British, metabolise

verb (used with or without object)

metabolized, metabolizing

1. to subject to metabolism; change by metabolism.

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metabolize British  

/ mɪˈtæbəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. to bring about or subject to metabolism

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metabolize Scientific  

/ mĭ-tăb′ə-līz′ /

1. To subject a substance to metabolism or produce a substance by metabolism.

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Other Word Forms

• metabolizability noun
• metabolizable adjective
• metabolizer noun
• unmetabolized adjective

Etymology

Origin of metabolize

First recorded in 1885–90; metabol(ism) + -ize

Example Sentences

"To continue to use wastewater safely, we need a more sophisticated understanding of where and how crop species metabolize, or break down, agents in the water."

From Science Daily • Mar. 15, 2026

Movies, for better or worse, are among the few remaining ways for Americans to encounter, metabolize, and wrestle with big moral issues at scale.

From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026

At the basic cellular level, we are beings that metabolize energy, reproduce offspring and pursue survival.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 3, 2026

“You help them alchemize or metabolize the emotional experience and then it becomes an experience in the past, where that feeling has been able to escape the body,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 1, 2026

His job, it seemed, was to take the chaos and metabolize it somehow into calm leadership—every day of the week, every week of the year.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama