What does vaporised mean?
Vaporised is the past tense and past participle of the verb vaporise, meaning to convert a liquid or other substance into vapour or gas. It can describe an active conversion, as when fuel is vaporised before entering an engine, or an intransitive change of state, as when water vaporises after being heated. The word may also refer more broadly to something dispersing as a gas or fine suspended particles. Vaporised is standard in British English, while vaporized is the usual American spelling. In contemporary usage, it is especially associated with engines, chemistry, laboratories, aerosols, and fuels, but it remains suitable for general description rather than being restricted to technical writing. Its ending clearly links it to vaporise: a process in which a substance passes from a liquid or less gaseous state into a gaseous one.
verb (past tense and past participle)Vaporised is the past tense and past participle of vaporise: to convert a liquid or other substance into vapour or gas, or to cause it to become gaseous. It can also describe something dispersing into a gas or fine suspended particles.
- To convert a liquid or other substance into vapour or gas, especially by heating.
- To become vapour or gas, especially through heating.
- To disperse into a gas or as fine suspended particles.
"The liquid vaporised as it passed over the hot surface."
"The fuel vaporised before entering the combustion chamber."
"The droplets vaporised rapidly in the heated chamber, producing a fine aerosol."
A liquid can disappear without burning: when it vaporises, it becomes part of an invisible gas.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of vaporised
Vaporised comes from the regular past-tense and past-participle formation of vaporize, which was formed from vapor with the suffix -ize. Vapor ultimately derives from Latin vapor, meaning “steam” or “mist,” and entered English through French. The suffix -ize also came through French and ultimately reflects Greek -izein, meaning “to make.”
Related word forms
How vaporised is actually used
The word is neutral in register and is especially common in technical contexts involving engines, chemistry, laboratories, and fuels. It may be used transitively with a substance as its object or intransitively to describe that substance changing state.
Easily confused with vaporised
Vaporised is the usual British spelling, while vaporized is the usual American spelling of the same verb; the two forms have identical meanings.
Vapour is a noun, whereas vaporised is a verb form describing the conversion of a substance into vapour or gas.