downsizing

[ doun-sahy-zing ]

noun

1. the act or process of reducing the number of something, such as employees or participants, usually as a cost-cutting measure:

   The company’s downsizing eliminated approximately 39% of all executive positions.

2. the act or process of replacing something larger with something smaller, such as moving into a smaller house:

   With the housing market in shambles, it would be difficult to sell our house, so downsizing is not really an option right now.

Word History and Origins

Origin of downsizing¹

downsiz(e) ( def ) + -ing ¹( def )

Example Sentences

An uncertain pandemic economy means expansion for some sectors and downsizing for others.

From Fortune

Some, like Metro, could stop layoffs and bring service back to current levels, but others, such as Boston’s MBTA, may move forward with proposed cuts and downsize service with the reduced demand until ridership begins to grow.

From Washington Post

Operational costs were tightened along with evaluations of the marketing and tech spend, and Wildgoose was forced to downsize its workforce by over 50%.

From Search Engine Watch

Some tread designs favor pavement with a dash of dirt, while others are downsized mountain bike tires.

From Outside Online

In Europe, where GM wisely withdrew via a sale to Peugeot in 2017, Ford is pledging to downsize its line of low-margin, high-volume passenger vehicles and invest heavily in growing its star performers, commercial and passenger vans.

From Fortune

For his tireless assault on evolutionary biology and downsizing the deity to fit within science, I give Meyer second place.

From The Daily Beast

Journalists are leaving Kabul, embassies are downsizing, and donors are quietly and drastically scaling back.

From The Daily Beast

Jacob Siegel on why the move may be more about downsizing than about visible ink.

From The Daily Beast

Financial firms are downsizing, and employees with ASDs have special needs.

From The Daily Beast

As a CEO, he was better known for downsizing purchased companies, than for new hiring.

From The Daily Beast

They have managed the dramatic downsizing of our forces after the cold war with remarkable skill and spirit.

From Project Gutenberg