un-ionized

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From un- +‎ ionized, from ionize.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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un-ionized (comparative more un-ionized, superlative most un-ionized)

  1. (chemistry) Not ionized.
    Synonyms: nonionic, nonionized
    Antonym: ionized

Usage notes

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At least one manual of style, and various publications' style sheets inspired by it, specifies the hyphenated style un-ionized among the alternative forms of this word, simply to avoid the homography with unionized as in "having a union", whereas there is no compelling reason not to avoid it. It is thus a rare exception to their general rule of preferring the solid form for affixed words by default, with exceptions only for clarity. Other words in this class are retreat versus re-treat, reformation versus re-formation, and recreation versus re-creation. The exception does not apply to any other forms of these words for which no ambiguity exists: thus, recreational and retreatment.