vitrify means to convert into glass or a glass-like substance by heat and fusion. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
vitrify is pronounced /ˈvɪt.ɹɪˌfaɪ/.
Why “vitrify” is a great word
VITRIFY — [Verb] To convert into glass or a glass-like substance by heat and fusion, or to undergo such a conversion. From Middle French vitrifier, from Latin vitrum ("glass"). First attested in English c. 1594. Unlike crystallize, which implies the formation of a precise, repeating lattice, or anneal, the careful process of relieving stress in an already-formed material, to vitrify is to arrest a substance in a state of molten disorder, freezing its frantic molecular dance into a rigid, transparent stillness. It is the alchemy of sand into a windowpane, the volcanic glazing of lava into obsidian, and the lightning's strike fusing sand into fulgurite—a brittle memorial to the moment the dance of molecules simply stopped, and forgot how to become anything else.
Etymology
From Middle French vitrifier, from Latin vitrum (“glass”).
verb
- To convert into glass or a glass-like substance by heat and fusion.
- To be converted into glass, especially through heat.“A large percentage of all Late Horizon fragments at this site was overfired, to the point where many were vitrified, black to dark brown, and misshapen, some with blistered surfaces.”