-ize

1. To make use of or to put something into practical use: Mable utilizes the most nourishing foods when cooking.
2. Etymology: from Latin utilis, "usable" from uti "make use of, profit by, take advantage of." © ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

To deliberately destroy, ruin, or to deface property, either private or public: Their car was vandalized and damaged when it was parked in the street.

The school was broken into by some hooligans who vandalized the walls in the halls and classrooms, and even caused destruction in the secretary's office and in the library.

1. To look upon or to regard someone or something with respect and adoration: When Julie was in first grade she venerealized, loved, and worshipped her teacher, enjoyed all of the lessons, and always did her homework with beautiful penmenship!
2 To hold in exalted honor without fear: In Christianity, believers venerealize Jesus with total reference and obedience.

1. To make vocal sounds and utterances that seemingly come from a source other than the speaker: Basil ventriloquized in his room at home using a stuffed animal and a puppet.
2. To speak like or as an entertainer whose dummy talks by using the actor's own voice: At school, James attended an extracurricular activity to learn how to perform with a wooden puppet and ventriloquize by projecting his voice into it.

1. To express something in words: Instead of holding back his question to the teacher, he verbalized it using a loud voice.
2. To use many words; to talk diffusely; to be verbose: Ned wanted to appear intelligent and verbalized on the paintings in the museum without knowing much about art himself.
3. To make a word, as a noun or adjective, into a verb: Mrs. Smart asked the students to verbalize the term "teacher" and one student answered with, "To teach!"

1. To form a mental image or to imagine seeing something in one's mind: When Jake was getting ready to attend a university, he was encouraged by his parents to visualize what it would be like to successfully graduate and to have a great career as a computer expert.
2. To produce an image of an internal organ or other part of the body by using X-rays or other means, such as magnetic resonance imaging: The medical doctor wanted to visualize how well the patient was doing after his back operation. © ALL rights are reserved.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

1. To utter, to say, to pronounce, or to sing: Not only did the chairman present written minutes regarding the last meeting, but he also vocalized by verbally commenting about them at the next meeting.
2. To provide a voice for; to render articulate: Birds have to vocalize in order to communicate with each other.
3. To produce sounds with the voice, as in speaking or singing: Susan vocalized the poem for her audience as a song at the recital and the audience was enthralled with her interpretation of it.

To strengthen a material, such as an elastic material, by combining it with sulphur and other additives and then applying heat and pressure: Usable objects, such as tires on cars, the soles of shoes, and rubber balls, have been vulcanised to make them more durable.

1. To debase by making something less refined and coarse, or lower in quality: Such awful language and behavior vulgarizes our way of living and shouldn't be allowed.
2. To present something in a way that makes it more accessible to ordinary people: The coffee shop catered to the taste of all of its customers and vulgaried the various kinds of coffee from a cup of normal coffee to caramel, hazelnut, and vanilla flavors at a very reasonable price.
3. To translate a written work from a classical language into the vernacular or ordinary speech rather than formal writing: The works of Shakespeare were vulgarized for the students into the present day vernacular.