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synchronize

[sing-kruh-nahyz]
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verb (used with object), syn·chro·nized, syn·chro·niz·ing.
  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), syn·chro·nized, syn·chro·niz·ing.
  1. to occur at the same time or coincide or agree in time.
  2. to go on, move, operate, work, etc., at the same rate and exactly together; recur together.
Also especially British, syn·chro·nise.

Origin of synchronize

1615–25; < Greek synchronízein to be contemporary with, equivalent to sýnchron(os) synchronous + -izein -ize
Related formssyn·chro·ni·za·tion, nounsyn·chro·niz·er, nounde·syn·chro·ni·za·tion, nounde·syn·chro·nize, verb (used with object), de·syn·chro·nized, de·syn·chro·niz·ing.un·syn·chro·nized, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for synchronise

Historical Examples

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

    The Nigger Of The "Narcissus"

    Joseph Conrad

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

    Pan-Islam

    George Wyman Bury

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

    Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921

    Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury

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

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

    Chosen Peoples

    Israel Zangwill

British Dictionary definitions for synchronise

synchronize

synchronise

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 timesynchronize 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. (tr) films to establish (the picture and soundtrack records) in their correct relative position
  5. (tr) to designate (events) as simultaneous
Derived Formssynchronization or synchronisation, nounsynchronizer or 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

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