polymerize

American  

[puh-lim-uh-rahyz, pol-uh-muh-] / pəˈlɪm əˌraɪz, ˈpɒl ə mə- /

especially British, polymerise

verb (used with object)

polymerized, polymerizing

1. to subject to polymerization.

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verb (used without object)

polymerized, polymerizing

1. to undergo polymerization.

polymerize British  

/ pəˈlɪmə-, ˈpɒlɪməˌraɪz /

verb

1. to react or cause to react to form a polymer

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Other Word Forms

• unpolymerized adjective

Etymology

Origin of polymerize

First recorded in 1860–65; polymer + -ize

Example Sentences

Seasoning is what happens when fats are heated to a certain point that causes them to polymerize, or reorganize into something resembling a plastic coating, and bond to the metal.

From Washington Post

Seasoning is what happens when fats are heated to a certain point that causes them to polymerize — or reorganize into something resembling a plastic coating— and bond to the metal.

From Seattle Times

As is the case with seasoned cast iron or carbon steel, you can over time smooth out the surface by creating layers of polymerized oil, which form a plasticlike coating.

From Washington Post

Under suitable conditions, these building blocks polymerized and the resulting strands eventually replicated, without assistance from modern protein enzymes.

From Nature

Our own attempts to emulate nature's structure-building capacity has thus far depended on 20th-century technologies such as extrusion and heat extraction, processes that brutalize small molecules to create crude polymerized structures.

From Scientific American