What does "photolysis" mean?

Any chemical reaction in which a compound is decomposed after absorbing a photon

What is a synonym for "photolysis"?

Common synonyms include: catalysis, catalyst, decay, dissociation, fission, splitting.

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Any chemical reaction in which a compound is decomposed after absorbing a photon uncountable

From Ancient Greek φωτ- (phōt-), root of φῶς (phôs, “light”) + λύσις (lúsis, “decomposition”). By surface analysis, photo- + -lysis.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.