[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/carbonise/)

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# carbonise

verb (carbonise, carbonises, carbonised, carbonising); US spelling: carbonize

«carbonise» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To turn something into carbon or charcoal by heating it strongly, usually without much air. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carbonise/#m1)
2. (science) To change dead plants slowly into coal or into a black carbon layer over a very long time. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carbonise/#m2)
3. (cooking, joking) To burn food so badly that it goes black and hard. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carbonise/#m3)

### In the lessons

In science lessons it comes up with coal, charcoal and fossils: plants carbonise when heat and pressure act on them for millions of years. In the kitchen it is a joking way to say toast or sausages are burnt to a crisp. It tells the reader that something has turned black and hard because of heat. Often in «carbonised remains», «carbonised wood», «carbonised seeds».

### Examples

- Charcoal is made by carbonising wood in a kiln with little air. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carbonise/#x1)
- Over millions of years the buried ferns were carbonised into coal. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carbonise/#x2)
- Dad left the toast in too long and carbonised it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carbonise/#x3)
- Archaeologists found carbonised grain in the old Roman oven. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carbonise/#x4)
- If you heat sugar too long, it starts to carbonise and smell bitter. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carbonise/#x5)
- The fossil leaf was a thin carbonised film on the rock. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carbonise/#x6)
- Don't carbonise the marshmallows, just toast them golden. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carbonise/#x7)

### Note

Regular verb: carbonised, carbonising. UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland often spell it with -ise; the USA and Canada use carbonize. Do not confuse with «carbonate» (to add fizzy carbon dioxide gas to a drink) — carbonated lemonade is fizzy, not burnt.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «carbonise» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/carbonise/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«carbonise» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/carbonise.html) on Mova free.