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
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
Steeped in risk analysis and game theory, they strategize every possible scenario, promising that no matter what happens, we’ll be all right.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
A new levies strategy from the U.S. government may create a new set of challenges for companies—and spur more costly legal bills as businesses strategize around new tariff authorities.
From Barron's ● Dec. 22, 2025
I am enjoying a bit of quietude in my private toilet right now to strategize for the next undertaking.
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
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
“This is the first scene in the movie,” Spielberg, at the time still best known as the director of “Jaws,” strategized.
From New York Times ● Jul. 3, 2023
It has strategized to reach the full political spectrum, said Nicolas Langlitz, a historian of science who’s researched the boom and bust of psychedelic movements.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 21, 2023
I recorded everyone’s techniques, and I strategized how best to beat them.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Those supports are a vital part of a long-term-care plan, and could do more to help stretch funds than any shuffling around of index funds or tax strategizing.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
They don’t spitball—they engage in ruthless strategizing worthy of the Pentagon war room.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
On homelessness, he said, he has a team strategizing to address the needs, and a medical team that works the streets, and a tiny home village is in the works.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2026
He posited that if AI comes to shape too much of game-day strategizing, “We can just play the game without the players and coaches,” almost as if the “Madden NFL” videogame replaced the actual NFL.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 6, 2026
Cleopatra, who would be financing the expedition, may have helped with the strategizing, too.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
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.
