/nooh'treuh leuh zay"sheuhn, nyooh'-/ , n.
1. the act, process, or an instance of neutralizing.
2. the quality or condition of being neutralized.
3. Ling. the loss of a distinctive feature of one of a pair of phonemes that are otherwise differentiated on the basis of that feature, as the loss of voice as a distinctive feature between the -t- and -d- of latter and ladder.
[ 1800-10; NEUTRALIZE + -ATION ]