dematerialize
Meaning
To become or cause to become immaterial; to vanish or cease to have a physical form.
In finance, to replace physical certificates (e.g., for shares) with electronic records.
Structure
Usage
The magician made the rabbit dematerialize in a puff of smoke.
The stock exchange decided to dematerialize all share certificates to improve efficiency.
In science fiction, characters can often dematerialize and rematerialize at a new location.
Etymology
The word 'dematerialize' is a modern formation built from classical components. Its core, 'material,' traces back to Latin materia, meaning the stuff from which something is made, originally referring to timber as a building substance. The prefix 'de-' acts as a reversive force, implying removal or undoing. The suffix '-ize' transforms the concept into a process. Thus, the literal construction "to make not material" logically evolved from the 19th-century philosophical and later technological contexts to describe the act of vanishing or converting physical objects into non-physical states, a concept now central to discussions in spirituality, physics, and digital finance.
Analysis
de: Latin origin, a prefix meaning "down from, off, away, reversing or removing." material: From Latin materia (matter, substance, timber), via Old French materiel. In this word, it functions as the base noun meaning "physical substance." ize: A verb-forming suffix of Greek origin (via Latin -izare), meaning "to make, to become, to subject to an action."