A high five to Karyn, who spotted the beautiful word anneal in this quote:

"Art is a language which anneals individuals to each other through experiences that are uniquely human, that demand connection at the level of making meaning."
   — Ann Lauterbach, The Night Sky: Writings on the Poetics of Experience, 2005

Gorgeous. We definitely need this word in our lives! As you can see from the quote, to anneal things or people is to reshape them or unite them, as if by heating them up, as if they're made of metal.

With this idea in mind of figuratively heating, shaping, and changing people, see if you can recall some similar words:

1. To k_____ something (like a feeling or an interest) is to cause it, to bring it into being, as if you're lighting a fire.

2. To become in__ed to something is to become used to it, as if you've hardened yourself in response to it.

3. To w___ things is to bring them together in a strong, permanent way, as if you're heating them together in order to cast them into a single object.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) 

The word "anneal" comes from an Old English one meaning "to kindle, excite, or inspire."

(Source)

To anneal a piece of metal is to heat it up so that you can shape it, or perhaps join it with other pieces. In the image above, Andrew Berry demonstrates how to anneal a piece of silver: how to heat it up just so, with a torch, so that it can be shaped into jewelry.

In a figurative sense, to anneal people or things is to shape them, to change them, to toughen them, or to unite them, as if by heating them and then molding them.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, often the transitive kind ("Let's anneal the wire"), but also the intransitive kind ("The wire is ready to be annealed").

Other forms: 

Annealed, annealing, annealer(s).

"Anneal" can also be a noun, meaning the process of annealing: "The anneal takes time;" "After an anneal, the piece is complete."

how to use it:

Pick the somewhat rare word "anneal" when you want to suggest that a person is undergoing permanent changes during some highly influential process or situation.

When you do, you're sounding precise and scientific, and you're emphasizing the person's flexibility or adaptability—or the situation's power or heat. Or both!

Say that some process or situation anneals someone into some kind of person, for better or worse. "Grad school annealed him into a neurotic mess." "Grad school annealed him into a confident professional." "In grad school, he annealed into a confident professional."

Or, say that people or things anneal together, or anneal with each other. "Harry, Ron, and Hermione anneal into an inseparable group after the troll attack." Or, flip that around and say that the situation anneals them. "The terrifying attack of the troll anneals Harry, Ron, and Hermione together."

examples:

"I had been annealed in the furnace of the Scientific Method."
   — Jacqueline Kelly, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, 2009

"Genes could be combined to create new combinations, or combinations of combinations; they could be altered, mutated, and shuttled between organisms... The truly radical advance was the cutting and pasting of ideas—the reassortment and annealing of insights and techniques that already existed in the realm of genetics for nearly a decade."
   — Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Gene: An Intimate History, 2016

has this page helped you understand "anneal"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "anneal" without saying "alter" or "shape."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Some experience) (did or didn't anneal me) into the ranks of (a certain type or group of people)."

Example 1: "Singing and stomping along with their music for a single afternoon didn't anneal me into the ranks of the Christian youth group."

Example 2: "No matter how long I stayed, the experience wasn't going to anneal me into the ranks of real workampers — I’d be going home at the end of it all to write."
   — Timothy R. Smith, Washington Post, 13 October 2017

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for February: Word Choice Chuckles!

I’ll give you a snippet of text that I spotted in the wild, with one word or phrase removed and its meaning described. See if you can fill in a word or phrase that'll give the reader a good chuckle. Be cheesy. Be punny. Get in there and make me proud.

Here's an example:

"This comes at a time of _____ in the mattress industry." 
   — Dan Solomon, Texas Monthly, 15 December 2017

Meaning of the missing word: "strife."

Answer: "unrest."

Try this one today:

"The Viola Davis-led action epic 'The Woman King' easily _____ the North American box office in its first weekend in theaters, against a crowded market of new releases."
   — Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press, 18 September 2022

Meaning of the missing word: "was the most successful in."

To see the answer, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. The opposite of ANNEAL could be

A. FAIL TO LIVE.
B. FAIL TO AFFECT.
C. FAIL TO ABSORB.

2. Reviewing a film adaptation of The Call of the Wild, Soren Andersen notes that "the essence of the London story is retained, with stouthearted Buck being annealed by _____."

A. the snow
B. adversity
C. the director

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. B Word Choice Chuckle: "The Viola Davis-led action epic 'The Woman King' easily conquered the North American box office in its first weekend in theaters, against a crowded market of new releases."    — Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press, 18 September 2022

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.