The Collaborative International Dictionary
Depolarize \De*po"lar*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Depolarized; p. pr. & vb. n. Depolarizing.] [Pref. de- + polarize: cf. F. d['e]polarizer.]
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(Opt.) To deprive of polarity; to reduce to an unpolarized condition.
Note: This word has been inaccurately applied in optics to describe the effect of a polarizing medium, as a crystalline plate, in causing the reappearance of a ray, in consequence of a change in its plane of polarization, which previously to the change was intercepted by the analyzer.
(Elec.) To free from polarization, as the negative plate of the voltaic battery.
Wiktionary
vb. 1 To remove the polarization from something 2 To demagnetize
WordNet
v. eliminate the polarization of [syn: depolarise]
Usage examples of "depolarize".
Those adjacent areas depolarize and then polarize slightly in the opposite direction, so as to stimulate depolarization in areas beyond.
Sodium ions enter and the membrane becomes depolarized, turning from 70 millivolts negative to as much as 40 millivolts positive.
The graph shows the brief pulse of the action potential, which travels down the axon like a wave, normally commencing at the site where the axon leaves the nerve cell body and terminating at the synapse, where it triggers the release of neurotransmitters which diffuse across to the postsynaptic cell, carrying the depolarizing signal to it.
The membrane is not merely depolarized, it is actually very slightly polarized in the opposite direction.
Since this happens at every point where the membrane is depolarized, there is a wave of repolarization following behind the wave of depolarization.
As the bloodstream sped the drug throughout the body, the motor and end plates of the muscles became depolarized, and total paralysis of the skeletal muscles occurred.
If only the whole mass could be depolarized to stop all electrical activity, then the intrinsic rhythm could possibly begin again.
As Seibert suggested, it functioned as a depolarizing agent on nerve junctions.
He stepped in front of the densecris window and touched a control, depolarizing the crystal to clarity once again.