Deinitialize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To stop a system from being initialized and make resources available again
2. To undo the setup of a system or component and release allocated resources
3. To revert a previously initialized state, freeing any occupied memory or handles

Etymology: "Deinitialize" is a straightforward formation: the prefix "de-", meaning to reverse or undo an action, attached to "initialize". "Initialize" itself comes from "initial", from Latin "initialis", relating to a beginning, combined with the verb-forming "-ize". Together they give a verb meaning to reverse the setup of something. The prefix does the real work here. "De-" has long been used in English to undo or remove, as in "decompose" or "deforest", and computing has borrowed it freely to describe reversing a setup step. A program that initializes a device, allocating its memory and opening its connections, can later deinitialize it, releasing those same resources so nothing is left holding them.