An alternative or variant form meaning to remove nitrites or nitrogen compounds (less common than denitrify).
From de- + nitrize. The -ize ending (primarily American English) is a variant suffix meaning 'to make or cause to become,' while -ify (British) is more common. Both derive from Latin -izare.
English offers multiple suffixes to do the same job (denitrify vs. denitrize, oxidize vs. oxidise)—this is partly because we inherited from both Latin and Greek, creating duplicate tools.
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