galvanize
verb
Did you know?
Luigi Galvani was an Italian physician and physicist who, in the 1770s, studied the electrical nature of nerve impulses by applying electrical stimulation to frogs’ leg muscles, causing them to contract. Although Galvani’s theory that animal tissue contained an innate electrical impulse was disproven, the French word galvanisme came to refer to a current of electricity especially when produced by chemical action, while the verb galvaniser was used for the action of applying such a current (both words were apparently coined by German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, who modeled them after the French equivalents of magnetism and magnetize). In English, these words came to life as galvanism and galvanize, respectively. Today their primary senses are figurative: to galvanize a person or group is to spur them into action as if they’ve been jolted with electricity.
Examples of galvanize in a Sentence
Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 16 May 2025
These striking and unsettling images played a key role in galvanizing Americans to push for comprehensive child labor laws.
—Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2025
Both concrete and software can be galvanized for robust performance where needed.
—Adrian Bridgwater, Forbes.com, 6 May 2025
When Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes inevitably shows up to galvanize the Thunderbolts into a team, Schreier is free to focus on the character’s moral determination — and his Terminator-like bravado — instead of sweating over his place in the space-time continuum.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for galvanize
Cite this Entry
“Galvanize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/galvanize. Accessed 20 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
galvanize
verb
Medical Definition
galvanize
transitive verb
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