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synchronize

[sing-kruh-nahyz] /ˈsɪŋ krəˌnaɪz/
verb (used with object), synchronized, synchronizing.
1.
to cause to indicate the same time, as one timepiece with another:
Synchronize your watches.
2.
to cause to go on, move, operate, work, etc., at the same rate and exactly together:
They synchronized their steps and walked on together.
3.
Movies, Television.
  1. to cause (sound and action) to match precisely:
    to synchronize the sound of footsteps with the actor's movements.
  2. to match the sound and action in (a scene).
4.
to cause to agree in time of occurrence; assign to the same time or period, as in a history.
5.
to adjust the periodicities of (two or more electrical or mechanical devices) so that the periods are equal or integral multiples or fractions of each other.
verb (used without object), synchronized, synchronizing.
6.
to occur at the same time or coincide or agree in time.
7.
to go on, move, operate, work, etc., at the same rate and exactly together; recur together.
Also, especially British, synchronise.
Origin of synchronize
Greek
1615-1625
1615-25; < Greek synchronízein to be contemporary with, equivalent to sýnchron(os) synchronous + -izein -ize
Related forms
synchronization, noun
synchronizer, noun
desynchronization, noun
desynchronize, verb (used with object), desynchronized, desynchronizing.
unsynchronized, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2017.
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Examples from the Web for synchronise
Historical Examples

  • At any rate they synchronise, despite or perhaps because of the deficiency of formal literature during the "Dark" Ages.

    A Letter Book George Saintsbury

  • The Hejazis failed to synchronise, as usual, so the Navy dispensed with their support.

    Pan-Islam George Wyman Bury

  • Would it not be a very wise and proper proceeding that she should make her leave to synchronise with his?

    The Sky Pilot in No Man's Land Ralph Connor

  • It was now an obvious plan to synchronise our movements with his.

    Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921 Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury

  • Two light snores, that did not synchronise, quarrelled in funny dialogue.

    The Nigger Of The "Narcissus" Joseph Conrad

  • It would seem to accept the Sinaitic Covenant as a literal episode, and even to synchronise the Mission with it.

    Chosen Peoples Israel Zangwill

  • They are, so to speak, pimples of the soul which synchronise with similar excrescences of the skin.

    The Palace of Pleasure, Volume 1 William Painter
British Dictionary definitions for synchronise

synchronize

/ˈsɪŋkrəˌnaɪz/
verb
1.
when intr, usually foll by with. to occur or recur or cause to occur or recur at the same time or in unison
2.
to indicate or cause to indicate the same time: synchronize your watches
3.
to download files, esp music or video files, from a PC to a portable device such as an iPod, or to upload files from the device to a PC
4.
(transitive) (films) to establish (the picture and soundtrack records) in their correct relative position
5.
(transitive) to designate (events) as simultaneous
Derived Forms
synchronization, synchronisation, noun
synchronizer, synchroniser, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word Origin and History for synchronise

synchronize

v.

1620s, "to occur at the same time," from Greek synchronizein "be of the same time," from synchronos "happening at the same time" (see synchronous). The sense of "make synchronous" is first recorded 1806. Synchronized swimming is recorded from 1950.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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