Standard Lemma guide

vaporize

verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: V EY1 P ER0 AY2 Z Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To turn into vapor.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, ambitransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

decrease rapidly and disappear

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the money vanished in las Vegas
  • all my stock assets have vaporized

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: vanish, fly

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: decrease, diminish, lessen, fall

3

verb

Meaning 3

lose or cause to lose liquid by vaporization leaving a more concentrated residue

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • evaporate milk

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: evaporate, vaporise

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: change integrity

Narrower terms: transpire

4

verb

Meaning 4

turn into gas

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • The substance gasified

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gasify, vaporise, aerify

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: change integrity

Narrower terms: sublime, sublimate

5

verb

Meaning 5

kill with or as if with a burst of gunfire or electric current or as if by shooting

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • in this computer game, space travellers are vaporized by aliens

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: zap

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: kill

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English vapor Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor. Late Latin -izōder. Middle French -iserbor. Middle English -isen English -ize English vaporize From vapor + -ize.

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: avulloj — turn into vapour
  • Azerbaijani: buğlanmaq — turn into vapour
  • Azerbaijani: buxarlanmaq — turn into vapour
  • Bulgarian: изпарявам (izparjavam) — turn into vapour
  • Catalan: vaporitzar — turn into vapour
  • Chinese Mandarin: 汽化 (qìhuà) — turn into vapour
  • Finnish: höyrystää — turn into vapour
  • French: vaporiser — turn into vapour
  • Georgian: აორთქლება (aortkleba) — turn into vapour
  • German: verdampfen — turn into vapour
  • Hebrew: אִיֵּד (iyyéd) — turn into vapour
  • Hungarian: párologtat — turn into vapour
  • Hungarian: elpárologtat — turn into vapour
  • Ido: vaporigar — turn into vapour
  • Indonesian: menguap — turn into vapour
  • Italian: vaporizzare — turn into vapour
  • Japanese: 蒸発させる (jōhatsu saseru) — turn into vapour
  • Japanese: 揮発させる (kihatsu saseru) — turn into vapour
  • Japanese: 気化させる (kika saseru) — turn into vapour
  • Polish: parować — turn into vapour
  • Polish: wyparować — turn into vapour
  • Portuguese: vaporizar — turn into vapour
  • Romanian: vaporiza — turn into vapour
  • Russian: испари́ться (isparítʹsja) — turn into vapour
  • Russian: испари́ть (isparítʹ) — turn into vapour
  • Serbo-Croatian: испарити — turn into vapour
  • Serbo-Croatian: ispariti — turn into vapour
  • Spanish: vaporizarse — turn into vapour
  • Spanish: vaporizar — turn into vapour
  • Swedish: förånga — turn into vapour
  • Swedish: förångas — turn into vapour
  • Vietnamese: bốc hơi — turn into vapour
  • Welsh: tawchu — turn into vapour