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:
Open-weight models, whose developers, including Nvidia, make them available to download so users can run and customize them on their own, would be exempt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Palantir is instead allowing customers to customize and run models on their own infrastructure and retain full ownership of their data.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
Like most of China's offerings, it costs less and uses source code that programmers can customize.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Don’t skip dessert, either, and if you’re a coffee drinker, order the Lao coffee, served with condensed milk and a sugar cube on the side so you can customize the sweetness to your liking.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 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
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
Elevate analyzes and tracks your improvement and customizes a training program just for you.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2021
The AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max all boast features like Adaptive EQ, which customizes your audio experience, and an intuitive force sensor for media control.
From The Verge ● Oct. 19, 2021
The plant sometimes customizes guns with scratches and blemishes by painting American flags on them, she said.
From Washington Post
“AI needs to be customized to the local context because it learns from the data upon which it is trained,” the bank said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
At the exclusive terminal for the rich and the famous at Los Angeles International Airport, passengers are greeted with champagne and caviar, then whisked directly to their planes in a customized BMW.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
That’s a private customized investment approach designed to reduce losses during market downturns by combining investments in stocks with hedging tools such as options, futures and/or short-selling.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Because the antenna is compact and lightweight, it can also be customized for different parts of the body, potentially improving patient comfort during imaging.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
Did he stand on a chair in order to shave, or was his home customized to meet his needs?
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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
The key is to have fun with building and customizing your maximalist egg.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026
On her tour with Chiaberta, Mary Louise designs her own store-branded makeup kit and chooses a Jellycat plush toy in the shape of a pancake, in addition to customizing a Barbie.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
Plus, her fans went to the trouble of buying and customizing lookalike wigs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 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.
