Meaning & use
sanitize
To make something clean and free of germs, or to remove sensitive or offensive material from it.
See it in a sentence
Hospital staff sanitize their hands between visits to every patient.
The report was sanitized before release so it contained no classified details.
A note on using this word
Beyond hygiene, sanitize is often used figuratively for removing controversial or embarrassing content from a document.
Words with a similar meaning
disinfectsterilize
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
Make it your own
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