devitalize, v.
(dɪˈvaɪtəlaɪz)
[f. de- II. 1 + vitalize.]
trans. To deprive of vitality or vital qualities; to render lifeless or effete.
| 1849 I. Taylor Loyola & Jes. (1857) 359 The philosophy which is propounded to youth must be devitalized. 1861 H. Macmillan Footnotes Page Nat. 223 Those [persons]..being devitalized by other noxious influences, such as vitiated air, defective sewerage, bad water, or an inadequate supply of food. 1869 [see devive]. 1876 Contemp. Rev. XXVIII. 729 This one incontestable fact of itself overthrows or devitalizes the entire doctrine. 1883 H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. (ed. 2) 86 The biologist cannot devitalise a plant or an animal and revivify it again. |
Hence deˈvitalized, deˈvitalizing ppl. adjs.; also deˌvitaliˈzation, the action of devitalizing.
| 1866 Reader 1 Sept. 770 Fungi..flourish on..surfaces..which belong to devitalized beings. 1871 Sat. Rev. 1 Apr. 398/2 New preparations of concentrated food..to meet the ‘devitalization’ which seems increasing in what we suppose to be the well-nourished class of families. 1875 H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 349 The poison exerts no destructive chemical or devitalizing influence upon the tissues. 1875 B. W. Richardson Dis. Mod. Life 385 Devitalized air finds its entrance into human habitations. |