normalize
English
WOTD – 28 May 2006
Alternative forms
- normalise (British)
Etymology
normal + -ize
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈnɔː.mə.laɪz/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈnɔɹ.mə.laɪz/
- Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)məlaɪz
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Hyphenation: nor‧mal‧ize
Verb
normalize (third-person singular simple present normalizes, present participle normalizing, simple past and past participle normalized)
- (transitive) To make normal, to make standard.
- There is little hope that the two countries will normalize relations; their governments seem to hate each other and would just as soon stay on bad terms.
- (transitive) To format in a standardized manner, to make consistent.
- We'll need to normalize these statements before we can compare them.
- (statistics, transitive) To reduce the variations by excluding irrelevant aspects.
- After we properly normalize the measurements with respect to age, gender, geography and economic considerations, there remains little evidence of a difference between the two groups.
- (rail transport, transitive) To return a set of points (switches) to the normal position.
- Antonym: reverse
- (rail transport, intransitive, of points) To return to the normal position from the reverse position.
- Antonym: reverse
- (computing, databases, transitive) To subject to normalization; to eliminate redundancy in (a model for storing data).
- Hyponym: canonicalize
- (metallurgy, transitive) To anneal (steel) for the purpose of decreasing brittleness and increasing ductility.
- 2005 November 29, National Transportation Safety Board, “Tank Car Crashworthiness”, in Collision of Norfolk Southern Freight Train 192 With Standing Norfolk Southern Local Train P22 With Subsequent Hazardous Materials Release at Graniteville, South Carolina, January 6, 2005, archived from the original on 17 June 2022, retrieved 17 June 2022, page 50:
- Charpy impact testing showed that the normalized steel in the tank shell of the punctured chlorine car had a fracture toughness that was significantly greater than the fracture toughness of the non-normalized steels of the catastrophically ruptured tank cars involved in the derailment of a Canadian Pacific Railway freight train in Minot, North Dakota, in January 2002. The steel in the Minot tank cars exhibited relatively low fracture toughness, and cracks propagated rapidly around the circumference of each tank. The higher fracture toughness in the Graniteville tank car contributed to the relatively quick arrest of the crack even though there was brittle fracture in its outer portions.
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- (mathematics, transitive) To divide a vector by its magnitude to produce a unit vector.
Related terms
- normal
- normalization
- normalized
- normalizer
- normalizes
- normalizing
Translations
to make normal
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to format in a standardized manner
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statistics: to reduce variations
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rail transport, transitive: to return to the normal position
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rail transport, intransitive: to return to the normal position
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mathematics
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Portuguese
Verb
normalize
- inflection of normalizar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative