SAPONIFY

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

Irregular inflected form: saponified

I. (verb)

Verb forms

Present simple: I / you / we / they saponify ... he / she / it saponifies

Past simple: saponified

Past participle: saponified

-ing form: saponifying

Sense 1

Meaning:

Convert into soap by hydrolizing an ester into an acid and alcohol as a result of treating it with an alkali

Example:

saponify oils and fats

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "saponify" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Verb group:

saponify (become converted into soap by being hydrolized into an acid and alcohol as a result of being treated with an alkali)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

saponification (a chemical reaction in which an ester is heated with an alkali (especially the alkaline hydrolysis of a fat or oil to make soap))

soap (a cleansing agent made from the salts of vegetable or animal fats)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become converted into soap by being hydrolized into an acid and alcohol as a result of being treated with an alkali

Example:

the oil saponified