strategize
Americanverb (used without object)
Usage
What does strategize mean? To strategize is to plan or create a plan or strategy for a specific reason or goal. A strategy is a plan for a course of action, especially one that prepares for multiple scenarios or situations. Strategize is commonly used in any context that involves extensive planning, especially the military, business, politics, and sports. Example: One candidate had clearly strategized before the debate and knew how to answer every question and respond to every attack. The other candidate was obviously winging it.
Etymology
Origin of strategize
First recorded in 1970–75; strateg(y) + -ize
Explanation
When you work on a plan with the aim of achieving a goal, you strategize. If you don't strategize before the big debate, you'll probably be unprepared and unconvincing. You and your sister should strategize before presenting your proposal for higher allowances to your mom. That means you'll come up with a game plan to achieve your goal: convincing her that ten dollars a week makes sense. Chess players strategize too, studying the board for possible moves and planning ahead to ultimately put their opponent's king in check mate. Strategize and strategy were first used as military terminology, from a root meaning "military commander."
Vocabulary lists containing strategize
Academic Vocabulary and Literary Terms, Unit 1
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Academic and Literary Vocabulary, Unit 2
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The Black Girl Survives in This One
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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:
Aguirre will have to strategize with an eye toward what lies ahead in the next round, which is a single-elimination format.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
There, U.S. personnel from Central Command sit across from their Israeli counterparts and strategize.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
His law firm had invented “Mass Torts Made Perfect” and ran it as a conference for elite plaintiffs’ attorneys nationwide to rub elbows and strategize, making him the unofficial president of the polo club posse.
From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2026
WSJ’s Imani Moise explains what to do with expiring money—and how to strategize for the new year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
When the final bell rings, I rush out of the room, ready to strategize with Soojin about how we are going to deal with this group and still win the race.
From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan
To avoid police raids, kids strategized, coming up with systems that would keep party and rave sites secret until the last minute.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Ariane strategized with Epstein on pushing back, and thrust the matter into public view by filing a lawsuit in 2015 to control using the name in finance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
The files provide a rare window into how Epstein reacted and strategized in real time to the political and cultural earthquake of #MeToo.
From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2026
Schmeltz, who is one of the leaders of the national Jewish on Campus Student Union, said the group has strategized on how to respond as protests multiplied.
From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2024
He carefully strategized its safekeeping and after much deliberation the twenty-seven crates were secretly shipped to the castle museum in Königsberg.
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
Elsewhere in Miami, prominent Cuban-Americans are mapping out a provisional government, recruiting engineers to study floating power stations, and strategizing on repairs to the island’s crumbling infrastructure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
A change not only to when people can get 100% of the benefit they’re owed, but also to when they might be able to begin claiming, could make strategizing more complex.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
The entertainment company’s executives are strategizing how to fight the lawsuit and have reached out to a number of attorneys generals involved in the suit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
When they haven’t been loudly booing, many fans have noticed that teams often appear to spend as much time strategizing during the pauses as they do hydrating.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
Lying on their bellies like boys, Father and Caesar study the map, strategizing.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
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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.
