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to metabolize

to metabolize

19 6.5
Change food and chemicals inside a living thing so it can use them or get rid of them
  • verb
  • /məˈtæbəˌlaɪz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : metabolizar
  • Some people metabolize alcohol faster than others, affecting their tolerance.
  • metabolizing enzyme
  • metabolize glucose
  • metabolize alcohol

It just means that your body, your liver has metabolized half of the caffeine.

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Examples

  • Your body metabolizes the proteins.

  • So we developed a mechanism to rapidly metabolize components in plants that could be fatal or toxic to us.

  • They, they will, you know, eat fast and metabolize it very quickly.

    ZOE
  • We metabolize it a little differently when we get older, and you could be just a lot more sensitive to the effects of it.

  • So basically the body is run out of glucose and it is shifting to things that it can metabolize from other sources.

  • It will metabolize the sugar in his blood for the next three hours.

  • Alcohol consumed at that rate is metabolized faster than it can have any effect.

    Blog text (27)
  • The iron bacteria then metabolize the iron that is solubilized in the process.

    Academic text (2001)
  • Everything that controls our hormones are they control how we look, how we feel, how we metabolize, how we sleep, how we menstruate.

  • They're missing an enzyme which metabolizes a certain kind of sugar, glycogen.

Synonyms

to manufacture
vsto metabolize
  • Specialized
17 5.8

To produce a substance naturally inside a living body

also covers breaking down as well as producing substances inside organisms
to catabolize
vsto metabolize
  • Specialized
1 9.8

To break down large substances in living things into smaller parts to release energy

processes substances generally not only by breaking them down

How Digested

to metabolize
  • Specialized
19 6.5
to assimilate
  • Specialized
4 7.7
to digest
52 2.8
to break down
  • Specialized
36 3.7

Surface Forms

metabolize infinitive
metabolized past participle
metabolizing present participle
metabolizes third person singular

Morphology

metabolize = metabolism (transparent) = metabol + ize

Standard verb formation from the noun 'metabolism' using '-ize' yields a predictable meaning 'to undergo or cause metabolic processing'.

Etymology

The word metabolize comes from the old Greek word metabolē, which means 'change' and is the same root you see in metamorphosis. So to metabolize something is to 'change' it inside a living body, for example turning food or medicine into energy or other chemicals.