neutralize

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   make chemically neutral

   The acid was neutralized.

2. 2
   verb

   make ineffective by counterbalancing the effect of

   Your optimism neutralizes their gloom.

3. 3
   verb

   make politically neutral and thus inoffensive

   The treaty neutralized the small republic

4. 4
   verb

   To make (something) even, inactive or ineffective.

   The antidote neutralised the toxin.

5. 5
   verb

   To make (a territory, etc.) politically neutral.

   All the powers involved are committed not only to stay out of a given territory, but also to reenter it if any one of them violates the independence of the neutralized country.

6. 6
   verb

   To kill.

   At the beginning of the opening game, Shepard becomes the first human Spectre, an elite operative given broad authority to neutralize threats to galactic order in the galaxy.

7. 7
   verb

   make incapable of military action

8. 8
   verb

   get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing

Etymology

From French neutraliser (first attested in 1642). By surface analysis, neutral + -ize.