anneal
/əˈnil/
verb
- To heat metal or glass and then slowly cool it, to make it less brittle and easier to work with.
- To make the wire more flexible, the factory anneals it at high temperatures.
- Glassmakers anneal their pieces in a special oven to prevent cracking.
- The blacksmith will anneal the steel before shaping it into a sword.
- To strengthen or toughen something, especially through a difficult experience.
- Adversity can anneal a person's character, making them more resilient.
- The team's spirit was annealed by the challenges they faced together.
- Years of hard work annealed his determination to succeed.
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Antonyms
noun
- A process of heating and slow cooling used to treat metal or glass.
- The anneal cycle takes several hours for thick pieces of metal.
- The engineer scheduled an anneal for the batch of steel parts.
- A proper anneal removes internal stresses from the glass.