"saponifying" in the verb sense
1. saponify
become converted into soap by being hydrolized into an acid and alcohol as a result of being treated with an alkali
"the oil saponified"
2. saponify
convert into soap by hydrolizing an ester into an acid and alcohol as a result of treating it with an alkali
"saponify oils and fats"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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