Library / English Dictionary

POLARIZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become polarized in a conflict or contrasting situation

Synonyms:

polarise; polarize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "polarize" is one way to...):

divide; part; separate (come apart)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

polarization (the phenomenon in which waves of light or other radiation are restricted in direction of vibration)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to concentrate about two conflicting or contrasting positions

Synonyms:

polarise; polarize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "polarize" is one way to...):

disunite; divide; part; separate (force, take, or pull apart)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

polarization (the phenomenon in which waves of light or other radiation are restricted in direction of vibration)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to vibrate in a definite pattern

Example:

polarize light waves

Synonyms:

polarise; polarize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "polarize" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

polarization (the condition of having or giving polarity)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Mantis shrimp eyes have stereoscopic vision and possess a band of photoreceptors that can distinguish up to 12 different wavelengths and linear and circular polarized light.

(How mantis shrimp make sense of the world, National Science Foundation)

The ability of a chiral substance to rotate the plane of polarization of a beam of transmitted plane-polarized light, either clockwise (to the right) or counterclockwise (to the left).

(Optical Rotation, NCI Thesaurus)

Interdependent positional signaling by the apical ectodermal ridge, the posterior mesenchyme zone of polarizing activity, and the non ridge ectoderm coordinate limb bud outgrowth and patterning, Limb Development, by migrated lateral plate mesoderm and somite cells.

(Limb Development, NCI Thesaurus)

Special filters can be used to absorb this polarized light, which is how polarized sunglasses eliminate glare.

(Planck Takes Magnetic Fingerprint of Our Galaxy, JPL/NASA)

Dendritic cells (DCs) were treated with interleukin-1beta, tumor necrosis factor alpha, interferon-alpha (IFN-a), IFN-gamma and polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (p-I:C) to produce mature alpha type-1 polarized DCs (alphaDC1) that are capable of producing high levels of interleukin-12p70 (IL-12p70).

(Apoptotic Autologous Tumor Cells-pulsed Alpha-type-1 Polarized Dendritic Cells, NCI Thesaurus)

However, if they happen to vibrate preferentially in certain directions, the light is "polarized."

(Planck Takes Magnetic Fingerprint of Our Galaxy, JPL/NASA)

In particular, they are looking at polarized light, both from the early universe and from dust in our galaxy as shown in the new map.

(Planck Takes Magnetic Fingerprint of Our Galaxy, JPL/NASA)

Darker regions correspond to stronger polarized emission, and the striations indicate the direction of the magnetic field projected on the plane of the sky.

(Planck Takes Magnetic Fingerprint of Our Galaxy, JPL/NASA)