to undergo or cause to undergo a chemical reaction with oxygen, as in formation of an oxide
2.
to form or cause to form a layer of metal oxide, as in rusting
3.
to lose or cause to lose hydrogen atoms
4.
to undergo or cause to undergo a decrease in the number of electrons
Compare reduce (sense 12c)
Derived forms
oxidization (ˌoxidiˈzation) or oxidisation (ˌoxidiˈsation)
noun
oxidate in American English
(ˈɑksɪˌdeit) (verb-dated, -dating)
transitive verb or intransitive verb
1. Chemistry
to oxidize
noun
2. Geology
any of the class of sediments consisting chiefly of oxides of iron or manganese
Word origin
[1780–90; oxide + -ate1]This word is first recorded in the period 1780–90. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: alignment, carton, classification, dynamics, oxygen-ate is a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, its English distribution parallelingthat of Latin. The form originated as a suffix added to a- stem verbs to form adjectives (separate). The resulting form could also be used independently as a noun (advocate) and came to be used as a stem on which a verb could be formed (separate; advocate; agitate). In English the use as a verbal suffix has been extended to stems of non-Latin origin(calibrate; acierate)