comminute
verb
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What do comminute, pulverize, and triturate all have in common? All three words are derived from Latin and share the meaning "to reduce to small particles." Comminute can be traced back to the prefix com- and the verb minuere, meaning "to lessen." Pulverize descends from a combination of pulver-, meaning "dust" or "powder," with the suffix -izare, which—like the English -ize—can mean "to cause to be." Triturate is borrowed from the past participle of the Latin triturare, which means "to thresh." Triturate specifically refers to the use of rubbing or grinding to achieve pulverization, a process which could be said to resemble the use of rubbing to separate grains from harvested cereal plants.
Synonyms
Examples of comminute in a Sentence
Profootballdoc, sandiegouniontribune.com, 5 Nov. 2017
Also, this prognosis is rooted in my hopefulness the fracture is not comminuted (in multiple pieces), as that might prolong the timeline by a couple of weeks.
—Profootballdoc, sandiegouniontribune.com, 16 Oct. 2017
Dictionary Entries Near comminute
Cite this Entry
“Comminute.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comminute. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.
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comminute
transitive verb
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