minimize

UK/ˈmɪn.ɪ.maɪz//ˈmɪn.ɪˌmaɪz/

minimize verb: to make (something) smaller or as small as possible; shrink; reduce.

Verb

minimize (third-person singular simple present minimizes, present participle minimizing, simple past and past participle minimized)

(transitive) To make (something) smaller or as small as possible; shrink; reduce.
- We have to minimize the budget.
- Try to minimize your biases.
Synonyms:

besmall, smallify, abase, abate, belittle, bring down, embase, cut, decrease, decrement

Antonyms:

maximize
(transitive) To relegate or assign (something) to a less insignificant status; diminish.
- The insurance adjuster tried to minimize the extent of the damage to lessen the company's exposure to liability.
Synonyms:

lessen, lower, reduce, abase, abate, belittle, besmall, bring down, embase, cut
(transitive) To remove (a window) from the main display area, collapsing it to an icon or caption.
- I didn't close anything, but I minimized all the windows so I could see the desktop.
Antonyms:

maximize
(transitive) To treat (someone) in a slighting manner.
- […] father who had never openly minimized him or anything he did […]1993, Jan McDaniel, One Golden Summer, page 95
(transitive) To treat as trivial or insignificant; to trivialize.
- to minimize someone's feelings
Synonyms:

banalize, disparage, play down, bagatellize, belittle, cut down, de-emphasize, denigrate, degrade, deprecate

minimize meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Bengali and Malayalam

minimize in Tamil

இயன்ற அளவு குறை, இயன்றளவு குறை, மிகச்சிறிதாக்கு

minimize in Marathi

कमीत कमी करणे, कमीत कमी करा

minimize in Bengali

হ্রাস করা, কমান, লঘু করিয়া বলা

minimize in Malayalam

reduce, keep down, keep at a minimum: ലഘൂകരിക്കുക, പരമാവധി ചുരുക്കുക, കൊച്ചാക്കുക, താഴ്ത്തുക, താഴ്ന്ന നിലയിൽ, താഴ്ന്ന അളവിൽ നിർത്തുക
make light of, belittle, play down: കൊച്ചാക്കുക, മതിപ്പു കുറയ്ക്കുക, നിസ്സാരമാക്കുക, നിസ്സാരമായി കരുതുക, നിസ്സാരീകരിക്കുക, കാര്യമായിട്ടെടുക്കാതിരിക്കുക

More languagesFewer languages

minimize in Kannada: ಕುಗ್ಗಿಸು, ಕಡಿಮೆಮಾಡು
minimize in Gujarati: લઘુતમ કરો
minimize in Odia: ସର୍ବନିମ୍ନ କରିବା, ସର୍ବନିମ୍ନ କରନ୍ତୁ
minimize in Thai: ย่อ yɔ̂ɔ

Examples of minimize in a sentence

To the observer it minimizes the grandeur of the conception […]"1948, Willard Price, Roving South, Rio Grande to Patagonia, New York, N.Y.: J. Day Co., →OCLC, page 13:
One way to minimize or mitigate the copycat effect is to deemphasize the perpetrator and deglorify the violence in real and fictional stories.2023, Jacqueline B. Helfgott, Copycat Crime:

All 40 example sentences with minimize

Synonyms of minimize

29 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

maximize

All synonyms and antonyms of minimize

Forms of minimize

third-person singular present	minimizes
present participle	minimizing
past participle	minimized
past	minimized
alternative form	minimise

Past tense of minimize: minimized

Origin of minimize

From Latin minimus + -ize.

Words formed from minimize

Questions about minimize

What does minimize mean?: Minimize means to make (something) smaller or as small as possible; shrink; reduce.
What is minimize in Tamil?: Minimize in Tamil is இயன்ற அளவு குறை, இயன்றளவு குறை, மிகச்சிறிதாக்கு. See Minimize meaning in Tamil.
How do you use minimize in a sentence?: To the observer it minimizes the grandeur of the conception […]"
What part of speech is minimize?: Minimize is a verb.
How do you pronounce minimize?: Minimize is pronounced /ˈmɪn.ɪ.maɪz/ (UK).
What is the past tense of minimize?: The past tense of minimize is minimized.

Words near minimize in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: minimize (page history and authors); minimize (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); minimize (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); minimize (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); minimize (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); minimize (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); minimize (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); minimize (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-minimize.wav.

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