diversify

American  

[dih-vur-suh-fahy, dahy-] / dɪˈvɜr səˌfaɪ, daɪ- /

verb (used with object)

• diversifies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• diversified,
  past participle,  past
• diversifying
  present participle

1. to make diverse, as in form or character; give variety or diversity to; variegate.

2. to invest in different types of (securities, industries, etc.).

3. to produce different types of (manufactured products, crops, etc.).

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verb (used without object)

• diversifies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• diversified,
  past participle,  past
• diversifying
  present participle

1. to invest in different types of industries, securities, etc.

2. to add different types of manufactured products, crops, etc., especially to a business.

diversify British  

/ daɪˈvɜːsɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. (tr) to create different forms of; variegate; vary

2. (of an enterprise) to vary (products, operations, etc) in order to spread risk, expand, etc

3. to distribute (investments) among several securities in order to spread risk

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• diversifiability
  noun
• diversifier
  noun
• undiversifying
  noun
• overdiversify
  verb
• diversifiable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• diversifying
  present
• diversified
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• diversify
  simple
• diversifies
  simple
• have diversified
  perfect
• has diversified
  perfect
• am diversifying
  progressive
• are diversifying
  progressive
• is diversifying
  progressive
• have been diversifying
  perfect progressive
• has been diversifying
  perfect progressive

Past

• diversified
  simple
• had diversified
  perfect
• was diversifying
  progressive
• were diversifying
  progressive
• had been diversifying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will diversify
  simple
• will have diversified
  perfect
• will be diversifying
  progressive
• will have been diversifying
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of diversify

1400–50; late Middle English < Anglo-French diversifier < Medieval Latin dīversificāre, equivalent to Latin dīvers ( us ) diverse + -ificāre -ify

Explanation

Diversify means to vary in type. It's often used to discuss risk in financial activities. You might diversify your investments by spreading your wealth among different types of stocks. You may have noticed that diversify looks like the word diverse, an adjective that describes showing variety and difference. If you want to diversify your interests, that means you want to mix it up and do more than just play Dungeons and Dragons all the time — you might become active in sports, theater, and the math club. Diversify can also describe expanding into new areas. A company might diversify by sending its sales force into Asia and Latin America.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

diversify diversifies diversified diversifying

Why don’t I diversify where I can live?’” said Basil Mohr-Elzeki, a managing partner at Henley & Partners, a residency and citizenship firm with an office in Beverly Hills.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

The odds of success are equally low when a CEO tries to internally diversify the different business lines on which their company focuses.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 2, 2026

The concern isn’t Ford and GM’s intent to diversify, which seems prudent enough.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Some experts believe tighter scrutiny of traditional trafficking routes from Latin America may be one factor driving cartels to diversify their operations.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

“The board thought that it was best to diversify our program.”

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Evolutionary theory has long proposed that life diversifies through periods of fast change followed by slower phases.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026

For Russia, the key question is whether it can maintain influence if Mali diversifies its security ties.

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026

The involvement of Amazon diversifies OpenAI’s hardware and cloud-computing resources from its historic relationship with Microsoft.

From Barron's ● Apr. 1, 2026

Cook said that he diversifies his investments across multiple industries, looking for companies that are “broadly nondiscretionary” and are well-positioned regardless of the macroeconomic forces shifting the market.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 25, 2026

A dissertation on the comparative merits of Manton's, Lancaster's, and Moore's guns, and the advantage of percussion locks, it is true, generally diversifies the conversation.

From The Idler in France by Marguerite, Countess of Blessington

To that end, Netflix has diversified the type of content it offers, adding games, video podcasts and live events like NFL football games to its platform.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

And traders who diversified their portfolios say it has helped cushion the blow from the stock market rout.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

According to Bray, Clariant has two advantages over the diversified chemicals sector.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

"This is the next big step forward in becoming a diversified platform, rapidly growing our revenue base and bringing scale to our business."

From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026

Confronted with the new fact—that his company was effectively long $50 billion in triple-B subprime mortgage bonds, masquerading as triple-A-rated diversified pools of consumer loans—Cassano at first sought to rationalize it.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

But the analysts said they were encouraged by the tech giant’s customer diversification, with nine $1 billion customers this year compared to four last year, and its focus on diversifying its product offerings.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

Fresno has also invested in diversifying its economy and closing socioeconomic gaps in recent years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

The company is diversifying beyond its crypto business into areas such as social media, though those ventures have yet to generate significant revenue, Thielen said.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

But the two companies have a poor track record of diversifying.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

They knew how significant it was that another one of us had made it; it was like one more step toward diversifying fencing.

From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad

Related Words

• expand
• transform