customize
Americanverb (used with object)
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customizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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customized,
past participle, past
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customizing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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customizationnoun
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customizernoun
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customizableadjective
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noncustomizedadjective
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semicustomizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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customizesimple
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customizessimple
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have customizedperfect
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has customizedperfect
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am customizingprogressive
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are customizingprogressive
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is customizingprogressive
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have been customizingperfect progressive
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has been customizingperfect progressive
Past
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customizedsimple
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had customizedperfect
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was customizingprogressive
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were customizingprogressive
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had been customizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of customize
Explanation
To customize something is to make it exactly how you want it. If you put stickers all over your plain old notebook, you customize it. If you see the word customer in customize, you’re onto something — to customize is to make something to a customer’s specifications. When clothes are customized — or tailored — they’re made with you in mind, specifically. A customized suit should fit perfectly. If you customize your car, it could be bright pink with eyelashes on the headlights. Or not.
Vocabulary lists containing customize
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.
See Examples For:
The beauty of Finch is that it actively deters you from an all-or-nothing mindset; you can customize your goals realistically to your lifestyle and needs.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
Still, these funds may work better as a starting point until retirement investors are ready to customize their plans to meet their financial needs and goals.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
There is also skepticism about the warnings of Anthropic executives about the security risks of so-called “open weight” AI, models that are far cheaper and generally allow users to customize and install their own safeguards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Like most of China's offerings, it costs less and uses source code that programmers can customize.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
“The default setting is typically ‘help,’ but you can customize as the situation allows.”
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
While Apple customizes many components inside iPhones, Khan said, “there isn’t a lot of customization” for memory, alluding to the possibility that commodity Chinese memory chips could be used.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Davis customizes treatment plans for each person, and individual sessions are $300 a visit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2025
This new testing method further advances precision medicine, which is a patient care approach that customizes treatments specifically for a person's genetics, environment and lifestyle.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 18, 2024
The photo was taken on Dec. 8, 2003, as Maxwell and Bamford, whose business customizes luxury watches, attended the opening of the Asprey Flagship Store on Fifth Avenue in New York.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 17, 2020
The plant sometimes customizes guns with scratches and blemishes by painting American flags on them, she said.
From Washington Post
Because some DNA sequences can be programmed to interact more strongly than others, scientists may eventually be able to take advantage of these properties to build customized DNA structures for biotechnology.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026
She had experience painting sets at work for the entertainment industry, but had never customized a rental of her own like this.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Her new home boasts 12 bedrooms and 20 bathrooms, and sits on a staggering 6-acre spread that was fully customized by Wahlberg before he moved out in 2022.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
To construct the device, the researchers added silver nanoparticles to a layer of customized DNA sequences -- specially designed to be of certain compositions and lengths -- that was integrated with thin films of perovskite.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
I’d been running a highly customized version of MaxHeadroom v3.4.1 for a few weeks now.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
"It avoids the complex process of customizing cells and uses readily available drugs to reversibly enhance NK cells' anti-tumor activities."
From Science Daily ● May 25, 2026
Vargo purchased her home in April 2025 for about $450,000, spending closer to $465,000 all in after customizing finishes like lighting, fixtures and hardware.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 24, 2026
In theory, the feature lets you skip the work of customizing your own instructions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
Kit planes are increasingly popular because they are much less expensive than factory-built aircraft, according to enthusiasts, and give the community a sense of customizing their own route to the skies.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2025
Lena had been creating paint-by-numbers canvases for him, sketching them with expert speed, customizing each image to his specifications.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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.
