downsize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to design or manufacture a smaller version or type of.
The automotive industry downsized its cars for improved fuel economy.
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to reduce in size or number; cut back.
Many small businesses are forced to downsize their workforce during a slow economy.
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to dismiss (an employee); lay off or fire.
After I was downsized from my marketing position, I took to substitute teaching to make a little money.
verb (used without object)
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to become smaller in size or number.
The military is downsizing— reducing overseas deployments—and as a result is spending less on supplies.
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to move into a smaller residence.
Retirees are downsizing these days, giving up oversized and empty nests for apartments that are easier to care for.
adjective
verb
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to reduce the operating costs of a company by reducing the number of people it employs
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to reduce the size of or produce a smaller version of (something)
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to upgrade (a computer system) by replacing a mainframe or minicomputer with a network of microcomputers Compare rightsize
Discover More
Downsize is a recent euphemism for “fire, lay off.” Company managers often use this term in an attempt to soften the blow of wide-scale layoffs.
Etymology
Origin of downsize
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The majority of their buyers are purchasing move-up homes or downsizing, he said.
From Barron's
For others, downsizing or renting could offer greater flexibility and lower ongoing expenses.
From MarketWatch
He added that others are "downsizing and conserving capital to extend their runway".
From Barron's
After pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into U.S. manufacturing, they are downsizing investments, canceling projects and pivoting plants to support making more traditional gas-powered vehicles.
Breuer was part of a generation of officers whose mission was often to make do with less, focusing on “downsizing and making things more efficient,” he says, “not more effective.”
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
