galvanize
/ˈɡælvənaɪ̯z/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.31 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To switch sides between Union and Confederate in the American Civil War.
American usage; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "We then galvanize the steel so that the zinc coating will sacrificially take the corrosion for many years."
- "The girl’s picture helped galvanize public opinion against the administration’s policy."
- "Republicans are hoping a proposed gas-tax repeal will galvanize their voters."
- "The arrival of the kett stunned and then divided the angara. As described by Jaal, infighting was used as a means of conquest by the kett, but the presence of a common enemy eventually galvanized the angara to work together. The various resistance groups merged into the organized Angaran Resistance roughly five years ago under Evfra de Tershaav's command, supported by prominent families and determined to stop their kett oppressors."
- "U.S. President Donald Trump’s bombshell proposal to take over the Gaza Strip and relocate its Palestinian inhabitants has made the forced transfer of populations – a war crime – a policy discussion, galvanizing Arab states."
- "The agitations resembled the grinnings and writhings of a galvanized corpse, not the struggles of an athletic man."
Etymology
Learned borrowing from French galvaniser. By surface analysis, galvano- + -ize. Named after Italian physiologist Luigi Aloisio Galvani (1737–1798).
Usage
- Dated
- Transitive verb
- Archaic
- American usage