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
Elise Hammond, CNN Money, 21 June 2025
Everyday citizens, galvanized and radicalized by the presence of the military in their city, choosing to fight back.
—Fidel Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2025
Meanwhile, the most recent peace talks yielded little more than a prisoner exchange and the administration continues to pull back from a conflict that once galvanized the West.
—Jane Harman, Time, 13 June 2025
Still, the seriousness of the reports involving exempted drugs did not galvanize the agency to investigate, leaving the public and the government with no way of knowing whether people were being harmed and, if so, how many.
—Debbie Cenziper, CNN Money, 20 June 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 9 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
galvanize
verb
Medical Definition
galvanize
transitive verb
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