as in used
to put into action or service
huge dams harness the power of water to produce electricity
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Recent Examples of harnessed
Fashion has long harnessed the symbolism of the horse, a recurring motif for brands including Gucci, Loro Piana, Versace, Dior, Celine and Stella McCartney.
—
Gemma A Williams, Vogue, 28 Jan. 2026
Quantum computing, once theoretical, is now being harnessed to tackle previously unsolvable problems in fluid dynamics, design of new molecules and materials, and energy optimization.
—CBS News, 22 Jan. 2026
Drawing on decades of experience in nuclear physics and accelerator technology, the institute has now harnessed tandem accelerator techniques to achieve complete independent design capability.
—Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 19 Jan. 2026
The team also found that the reconstructed ancestral enzymes were easier to produce in micro-organisms, such as yeast cells, than modern-day types, which mean they can be harnessed to synthesize cannabinoids more efficiently.
—New Atlas, 10 Jan. 2026
The mental capital, if harnessed successfully, will presumably enable a nation to achieve greater aims than a nation that has less mental capital.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 5 Jan. 2026
In 1986, the former actor founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation and harnessed her fame to lead campaigns against, among other things, the eating of horse meat and the hunting of turtle doves in France.
—Corky Siemaszko, NBC news, 28 Dec. 2025
Certainly, communities from across our planet have harnessed ice in similar ways before.
—Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 18 Dec. 2025
Anticipating the way that clock time would be harnessed to control human labor and thought, Thoreau sought an alternative to living that is also an alternative to his culture’s temporal conventions.
—Literary Hub, 17 Dec. 2025
Gemma A Williams, Vogue, 28 Jan. 2026
Quantum computing, once theoretical, is now being harnessed to tackle previously unsolvable problems in fluid dynamics, design of new molecules and materials, and energy optimization.
—CBS News, 22 Jan. 2026
Drawing on decades of experience in nuclear physics and accelerator technology, the institute has now harnessed tandem accelerator techniques to achieve complete independent design capability.
—Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 19 Jan. 2026
The team also found that the reconstructed ancestral enzymes were easier to produce in micro-organisms, such as yeast cells, than modern-day types, which mean they can be harnessed to synthesize cannabinoids more efficiently.
—New Atlas, 10 Jan. 2026
The mental capital, if harnessed successfully, will presumably enable a nation to achieve greater aims than a nation that has less mental capital.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 5 Jan. 2026
In 1986, the former actor founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation and harnessed her fame to lead campaigns against, among other things, the eating of horse meat and the hunting of turtle doves in France.
—Corky Siemaszko, NBC news, 28 Dec. 2025
Certainly, communities from across our planet have harnessed ice in similar ways before.
—Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 18 Dec. 2025
Anticipating the way that clock time would be harnessed to control human labor and thought, Thoreau sought an alternative to living that is also an alternative to his culture’s temporal conventions.
—Literary Hub, 17 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harnessed
Verb
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UltraGreen holds an 85% market share in the US for its fluorescent dye used in surgical imaging, despite raising the average cost of its dye vials in the market by 60% and 30% in 2023 and 2024.—
Bernadette Toh,
Bloomberg,
28 Jan. 2026
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Scared of death, many men have used it, carrying death upon their shoulders.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Certain flowers, such as zinnias and sunflowers, can also be freeze-dried and utilized, as needed, for making wreaths and other decorative purposes.—
Joshua Siskin,
Oc Register,
24 Jan. 2026
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When spot prices are rising for two-generation-old hardware, when every cloud provider is fully utilized, when demand keeps accelerating, that's not speculative excess.—
Bernard Marr,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Whether analysts value that outcome as a $10 reduction in individual risk added up across everyone, or as a $10 million value directly applied to the life saved is mathematically identical.—
James Broughel,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
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Almost immediately after oversight of TikTok’s US operations changed, misinformation started to spread about changes to the app’s new terms of service, including those that applied to location sharing and data collection, Fiesler said.—
Scottie Andrew,
CNN Money,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.—
Ezra Klein,
Mercury News,
28 Jan. 2026
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Instead, it was siphoned off and exploited.—
Jennifer Nassour,
Boston Herald,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Licensed pyrotechnic operators receive training, but there are no clear requirements for non-operators employed by fireworks companies.—
Daniel Lempres,
Sacbee.com,
28 Jan. 2026
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To address this, the Statista R research team employed triangulation, combining secondary data from global sources and national datasets with primary data from university reports and data submissions to verify collected information.—
TIME Staff,
Time,
28 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Harnessed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harnessed. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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