Definition of "neutralize" []

• To make neutral. (verb-transitive)
• To counterbalance or counteract the effect of; render ineffective. (verb-transitive)
• To declare neutral and therefore inviolable during a war. (verb-transitive)
• Chemistry To make (a solution) neutral. (verb-transitive)
• Chemistry To cause (an acid or base) to undergo neutralization. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The freedom of the press should be thus far restricted; so that when a man publicly proclaims through the far-sounding trumpet of the newspaper, he should be answerable for it, at any rate with his honor, if he has any; and if he has none, let his name neutralize the effect of his words."
• "(However, while ominous in tone, the term "neutralize" -- as used by government agents -- was never really defined.)"
• "Are we really going to stay in Iraq until we "neutralize" -- i.e. blow to pieces or imprison in Abu Ghraib -- every Iraqi who isn't keen on our notion of a unified, multi-sectarian, pro American, pro Western, anti-Islamist Iraq?"