optimize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
optimizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
optimized,
past participle, past
-
optimizing
present participle
-
to make as effective, perfect, or useful as possible.
-
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)
-
optimizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
optimized,
past participle, past
-
optimizing
present participle
verb
-
(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
-
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
-
has been optimizingperfect progressive
Past
-
optimizedsimple
-
had optimizedperfect
-
was optimizingprogressive
-
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:
But we’re living in a time of hair transplants, peptides and body contouring, all appealing to men who want to optimize their appearance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Wrongful termination claims in the tech world are common immediately preceding large funding rounds as investors seek to optimize financial metrics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
"Inside the body, we can't do that post-manufacturing quality control, so we really needed to optimize the approach upfront to avoid altering any other cells."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026
The company competes in a “very fragmented space,” is more than double the size of its next biggest competitor and has been using AI to optimize pricing.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
The university had a reputation for spawning world-class scientists exploring how to optimize use of technology in airplanes and in the military, in the tradition of Broadbent and Dr. Treisman.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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
He’s the person who builds things, not one who optimizes supply chains.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 21, 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
James Cadwallader, co-founder and chief executive of New York-based Profound, which optimizes brand visibility in AI search, said his team typically works full time in the office.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 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 Dorin Teodor Moisa
Do all of our daily tasks need to be optimized for efficiency?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
AI slop has begun appearing on restaurant menus, signs and advertisements, offering food imagery that looks optimized for appetite without necessarily resembling anything a person could cook.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026
When researchers added two optimized passive diffractive layers while testing more difficult deepfake manipulations, detection accuracy improved by ~6.8%.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
New European distribution warehouses are being brought on line, its brick-and-mortar network is being optimized and stores updated, and investments in digital infrastructure ramped up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 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
Battery makers are largely focused on optimizing existing manufacturing lines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
As a result, brands are optimizing their content to be discovered through different stages of AI browsing.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
“David is optimizing for HBO stability as we move into this next chapter, and I fully support that.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
Eggleston, a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering with expertise in geochemistry, will lead work focused on understanding and optimizing the chemical reactions involved in breaking down and rebuilding silicate materials.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
At Mirror Tech we’re dedicated to optimizing human potential.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
