Solarize

verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To subject to solarization. transitive
  2. 2
    expose to the rays of the sun or affect by exposure to the sun wordnet
  3. 3
    To overexpose. dated, transitive
  4. 4
    overexpose to sunlight wordnet
  5. 5
    To become overexposed. dated, intransitive
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    become overexposed wordnet
  2. 7
    To treat soil by covering with plastic and exposing to sunlight.

    "In areas with abundant sunlight, you can solarize the soil to disinfect it of fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and even weed seeds (see page 83)."

  3. 8
    reverse some of the tones of (a negative or print) and introduce pronounced outlines of highlights, by exposing it briefly to light, then washing and redeveloping it wordnet
  4. 9
    To convert to using solar energy.

    "Other factors come into play when trying to solarize a home."

Synonyms

All synonyms
insolatesolarisesunsun

Example

More examples

"In areas with abundant sunlight, you can solarize the soil to disinfect it of fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and even weed seeds (see page 83)."

Etymology

From solar + -ize.

Related phrases

solar energy

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