Verb
crystallize (third-person singular simple present crystallizes, present participle crystallizing, simple past and past participle crystallized)
- (transitive) (chemistry, physics) to make something form into crystals
I crystallized the copper sulfate by slowly cooling a saturated solution.
- (intransitive) to assume a crystalline form
The copper sulphate crystallized from solution.
- (transitive) to give something a definite or precise form
After some thought, I crystallized my ideas for the paper.
- (intransitive) to take a definite form
My ideas crystallized overnight.
1957, Patrick White, chapter 12, in Voss:The situation did crystallize, if painfully, under the stars, and by morning each knew what he must confess.
- (transitive) to coat something with crystals, especially with sugar
We crystallized the fruit by coating in sugar.