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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

sanitize en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsænətaɪz/ (General-American)
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˈsænɪtaɪz/ (General-American)

Etymology

From sanitary. By surface analysis, sanity + -ize.

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To rid of microorganisms by cleaning or disinfecting.
  2. (broadly, transitive) To make something, such as a dramatic work, more acceptable by removing potentially offensive material.
    • Both caricatures are appropriately mean, but if the show is going to continue using them, it needs to take care not to sanitize the real people, as it has done with dangerously incompetent and malicious figures in the past, such as George W Bush or Trump himself. 2024 November 17, Zach Vasquez, “Saturday Night Live: Charli xcx has fun in otherwise middle of the road episode”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
    • Near-synonym: bowdlerize
    • And yet for all that, the filmmakers were in fact trying to sanitize Mitchell’s novel. 2007 November 4, Stephen L. Carter, “Almost a Gentleman”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
  3. (transitive) To filter (text) to ensure it does not contain any characters that will cause problems for or be interpreted in an adverse way by the receiving system.
    • Remember to sanitize your query parameters to avoid SQL injection exploits.
  4. (transitive) To remove sensitive or personal data from (a database or file).
  5. (transitive) To revise (a document) in order to prevent identification of the sources.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
sanitise alternative lexicographic
sanitized Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
sanitized Tense=Past lexicographic
sanitizing Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
sanitizes Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Deriveds

sanitizable · sanitization · resanitize · sanitizer · desanitize

Relateds

sanitation · sanitary

Synonyms

bowdlerize

Translations (30)

ca sanejar (to free from microorganisms) · tr sterilize etmek (to free from microorganisms) · ja サニタイズする (to filter text) · ru дезинфицировать (to free from microorganisms) · ru цензурировать (to bowdlerize) · sv sanera (to free from microorganisms) · es sanitizar (to free from microorganisms) · ru стерилизовать (to free from microorganisms) · es higienizar (to free from microorganisms) · fr assainir (to free from microorganisms) · it censurare (to bowdlerize) · de hygienisch machen (to free from microorganisms) · pt desinfetar (to free from microorganisms) · it edulcorare (to bowdlerize) · ru вымарывать (to bowdlerize) · ru очищать (to filter text) · pt higienizar (to free from microorganisms) · de sanitizen (to filter text) · ar عَقَّمَ (to free from microorganisms) · de keimfrei machen (to free from microorganisms) · bg хигиенизирам (to free from microorganisms) · it disinfettare (to free from microorganisms) · it igienizzare (to free from microorganisms) · ja 除菌する (to free from microorganisms) · cs sanitovat (to free from microorganisms) · bg дезинфекцирам (to free from microorganisms) · it sanitizzare (to free from microorganisms) · es sanear (to free from microorganisms) · el απολυμαίνω (to free from microorganisms) · pl asenizować (to free from microorganisms)