optimize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make as effective, perfect, or useful as possible.
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to make the best of.
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Computers. to write or rewrite (the instructions in a program) so as to maximize efficiency and speed in retrieval, storage, or execution.
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Mathematics. to determine the maximum or minimum values of (a specified function that is subject to certain constraints).
verb (used without object)
verb
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(tr) to take the full advantage of
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(tr) to plan or carry out (an economic activity) with maximum efficiency
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(intr) to be optimistic
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(tr) to write or modify (a computer program) to achieve maximum efficiency in storage capacity, time, cost, etc
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(tr) to find the best compromise among several often conflicting requirements, as in engineering design
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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optimizesimple
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optimizessimple
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have optimizedperfect
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has optimizedperfect
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am optimizingprogressive
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are optimizingprogressive
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is optimizingprogressive
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have been optimizingperfect progressive
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has been optimizingperfect progressive
Past
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optimizedsimple
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had optimizedperfect
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was optimizingprogressive
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were optimizingprogressive
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had been optimizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of optimize
Explanation
Optimize means to make the best possible use of something. If you optimize your home storage capacity, you clean and organize your closets and drawers to be able to fit the most in. Before the advent of the Internet, the word optimize was mostly used to describe the act of being really positive about the world, or being an optimist. But today one can scarcely hear the word without thinking about how to optimize a website or make it as efficient as possible. SEO, standing for "search engine optimization," refers to this process of optimizing a website to make it appear more frequently in web searches.
Vocabulary lists containing optimize
Engineering - Introductory
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Engineering: Defining Problems and Designing Solutions - Introductory
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Mathematical Modeling
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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:
“Landmaxxing”—the quest to optimize one’s land holdings by acquiring more acreage—drove the luxury market during the first part of the year, according to a new midyear report from Coldwell Banker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The team also plans to optimize treatment methods through approaches such as dose fractionation and direct injection into tumors.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
“We are going to absorb it, optimize it and scale it into something that is really truly fantastic,” said Rocket Lab Chief Executive Peter Beck in a YouTube presentation of the deal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
This frees Lodge Quai from having to fix a leaky factory roof in, say, Düsseldorf, and it allows the local company not only to optimize its expenses, but more importantly redeploy its locked-up capital.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
He taught her how to tell time and direction from the stars, and she showed him how to open the expert software in the boards to optimize them for night travel.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
He expects Nestlé’s revenue growth to reaccelerate as it optimizes its portfolio around areas like coffee and pet care.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
Mattel said the job cuts are part of an effort to save money as the company optimizes for growth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
And they have assisted 3M in coming up with a sanding disc that optimizes dust collection and grinding performance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 24, 2026
To Joel Lewenstein, head of product design at Anthropic, AI slop is “generic content, undifferentiated content — something that optimizes for volume and passive consumption over everything else.”
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 29, 2025
Such a structure is generated by the technological implementation of the brain, and it optimizes the activity of the brain in a section of the external reality.
From The Brain, A Decoded Enigma by Moisa, Dorin Teodor
The researchers have also optimized the plenoptic camera to expand its field of view and collect more light.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
Some in the industry said they doubted LineShine could match dedicated AI supercomputers because the hardware in those systems is optimized for training today’s AI models.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
However, Sobko said the Nvidia GB300 systems are optimized both for model development and high-performance inference workloads.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
It’s a portfolio aligned and optimized to produce the income needed, with Social Security as one contributor, not the only contributor.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026
The members decided to fund two machines of different sizes, each optimized to produce different particles; the only question left was which lab would build which machine.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
"I think we'll get to a point where if I have to request headcount, I'll be asked, 'How are you optimizing AI?'" before any new hire is approved, Euller told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
But in hindsight, I was optimizing for a travel lifestyle that I wasn’t really living, and I would have been better off picking a card that offered more of what I needed: free cash.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
"By dissecting which immune cells are involved and how they coordinate the response, we're offering vaccine developers some additional mechanistic insights to consider in their goal of optimizing these vaccines against tumor proteins."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
Roth said large language models rely on token-by-token text prediction, optimizing for linguistic plausibility.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
At Mirror Tech we’re dedicated to optimizing human potential.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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.
