harmonize
Americanverb (used with object)
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harmonizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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harmonized,
past participle, past
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harmonizing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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harmonizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
harmonized,
past participle, past
-
harmonizing
present participle
verb
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to make or become harmonious
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(tr) music to provide a harmony for (a melody, tune, etc)
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(intr) to sing in harmony, as with other singers
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to collate parallel narratives
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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harmonizationnoun
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harmonizernoun
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reharmonizeverb (used with object)
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unharmonizeverb (used with object)
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harmonizableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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harmonizesimple
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harmonizessimple
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have harmonizedperfect
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has harmonizedperfect
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am harmonizingprogressive
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are harmonizingprogressive
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is harmonizingprogressive
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have been harmonizingperfect progressive
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has been harmonizingperfect progressive
Past
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harmonizedsimple
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had harmonizedperfect
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was harmonizingprogressive
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were harmonizingprogressive
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had been harmonizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of harmonize
First recorded in 1475–85; late Middle English, also armonise, from Middle French harmoniser, equivalent to harmonie + -iser, verb suffix; see harmony, -ize
Explanation
When you harmonize different opinions or ideas, you bring them to some kind of agreement. It's challenging to harmonize the different interests of a whole classroom full of children, but that's part of what a good teacher does. When senators from different parties work together on a bill, they need to harmonize their different expectations and and priorities before they can come up with a good compromise. Another way to harmonize is to blend two singing voices or two instruments in a way that sounds pleasing. This is the oldest meaning of the word, which ultimately comes from the Greek harmonia, "concord of sounds" or "agreement."
Vocabulary lists containing harmonize
"Say It with Flowers" and "The Journey"
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-ize
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ize
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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:
Regulators have been working on finalizing new capital standards for banks for years, the culmination of an international effort to harmonize capital requirements after the 2008 financial crisis.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
The mushy score, absurdly pompous speeches, and Victorian staginess harmonize with Mr. Fraser’s conception of his role as the emoter in chief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
"One of the technical advances that we made in this work is to figure out how to harmonize all these different data modalities so they can come together to learn the same language," Zou said.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 9, 2026
Tony Xu, DoorDash’s chief executive, said during the company’s earnings call on Wednesday that the planned investments would help harmonize its tech infrastructure, after bringing those other delivery platforms under its wing.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2025
And a man couldn’t harmonize with his crewmates unless he opened his heart to them.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Designed by Snøhetta and inspired by the 26th president’s love for the American wilderness, the new building is a moving work of architecture that harmonizes with its North Dakota landscape setting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
“The Moment” harmonizes well with Joanna Natasegara’s “The Disciple,” which digs into the fraught backstory of the Wu-Tang Clan’s controversial seventh album, “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2026
The percussion swells, the clatter harmonizes and his romance collapses, leaving Rudy alone in his bedroom with a lamp attached to — oh dear — a Clapper.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2024
This mantel design harmonizes beautifully with the room’s central focal point, a stunning Moroccan tile-inspired mirror.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 17, 2023
When a sentence gets complicated, though, even a literate writer can lose track of how each branch in a coordination harmonizes with the rest of the tree.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Now, on “Fifteen,” it arrives through a long, lovely and cleverly harmonized piano introduction by Mr. Iyer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Other data include Italy’s CPI inflation data for January on Monday, final harmonized eurozone CPI data for January on Wednesday and eurozone money supply on Thursday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
They harmonized beautifully over a tightly-apertured standard about reciprocated sweetness — a song performed at the scale of a treat in the home of a refugee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2026
Preclinical Brain Injury MRI -- A harmonized dataset of 343 diffusion MRI scans from four research centers, standardized across protocols and aligned for comparability.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2025
My tummy’s gurgles and grunts harmonized with the buzz.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
WSJ: It seems like therefore the “different speeds” version of Europe might work for some things but not others like harmonizing standards, the AI project as a collective.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026
Each element should layer on top of the others, sometimes harmonizing, sometimes clashing just enough to make every bite sing.
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2025
Orff wrote the piece in Germany during the Nazi regime, and it was very popular with the Nazis — harmonizing uncomfortably well with their testosterone-fueled propaganda.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2025
Just after the Stellas were cast on the show, they shot to internet fame when a video of them harmonizing on a cover of Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend” went viral.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2024
May and Phillip said together, their confusion harmonizing nicely.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
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.
