downsizing

downsizing is the present participle and gerund of downsize.

Noun

downsizing (countable and uncountable, plural downsizings)

An act in which a company downsizes or is downsized.
- He was excessed in the last downsizing.
Miniaturization.
Reducing engine's capacity at same power or increasing engine's power without increasing capacity.
- Downsizing is one of the leading trends in automotive engine design.

downsize (third-person singular simple present downsizes, present participle downsizing, simple past and past participle downsized)

(intransitive) To reduce in size or number.
- Joe and Edna moved to a bungalow after deciding to downsize when the children had left home.
(transitive) To reduce the workforce of.
- They downsized the division by offering attractive early-retirement packages and selling off an office building.
Synonyms:

rightsize
(euphemistic, transitive) To terminate the employment of.
- Joe got downsized and became a plumber.
Synonyms:

axe, can, decruit, dehire, discard, remove, discharge, dismiss, fire, give the axe

plural	downsizings

From downsize + -ing.

What does downsizing mean?: Downsizing means an act in which a company downsizes or is downsized.
What is downsizing the present participle and gerund of?: Downsizing is the present participle and gerund of downsize.
What part of speech is downsizing?: Downsizing is a noun.
What is the plural of downsizing?: The plural of downsizing is downsizings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: downsizing (page history and authors); downsize (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “downsizing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/downsizing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.