Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To cause a glassy or amorphous material to lose its glass-like, transparent quality and become brittle, opaque, or crystalline in structure.
   • To deprive glass of its vitreous character.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • To undergo a process where a glassy material spontaneously becomes crystalline or opaque over time.

Usage and Examples

• Transitive Verb:

  • The intense heat can devitrify the volcanic glass, turning it into a dull, crystalline rock.
  • Certain impurities in the batch may devitrify the glass during the cooling process.

• Intransitive Verb:

  • If cooled too slowly, the molten lava will devitrify, forming fine crystals.
  • Over geological timescales, some ancient glasses have devitrified naturally.

Advanced Usage

• Scientific/Technical Context: The term is primarily used in materials science, geology, and glassmaking. It describes a specific phase transition.
  • The study aimed to determine the temperature at which the synthetic glass would begin to devitrify.

Variants and Related Words

• Devitrification (n): The process or result of devitrifying.
  • The devitrification of the obsidian sample was confirmed under the microscope.

Synonyms

• Crystallize (when referring to the intransitive sense of becoming crystalline).
• Make brittle/opaque (for the transitive sense, though less precise).

Antonyms

• Vitrify: To convert into glass or a glass-like substance.

Verb

1. make (glassy materials) brittle or opaque
2. become crystalline