pessimize

Verb

pessimize (third-person singular simple present pessimizes, present participle pessimizing, simple past and past participle pessimized)

1. (transitive) To take a pessimistic view of; to speak of in a negative or pessimistic way.
   • Mr. [Benjamin] Disraeli's Church appointments have been received with general satisfaction. There are two relations of the matter; the one as regards the prudence and astuteness of the dispenser of good things, and the other as relates to the general good and efficiency of the Church itself. It is...1868 November 21, “The Recent Church Appointments”, in The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art, volume XXVI, number 682, London: Published at the office, Southampton Street...

   Antonyms:

   optimize

2. (transitive) To make (something) pessimal or the worst; (in a weaker sense) to make (something, such as a computer program) less efficient.
   • pessimizing compiler [...] A compiler that produces object [...] code that is worse than the straightforward or obvious hand translation. The implication is that the compiler is actually trying to optimize the program, but through excessive cleverness is doing the opposite. A few pessimizing...1996, Eric S[teven] Raymond, “pessimizing compiler”, in The New Hacker’s Dictionary, 3rd edition, Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press, →ISBN, page 354
   • Designing a window without the building, a light without the room, or a motor without the machine it drives works as badly as designing a pelican without the fish. Optimizing components in isolation tends to pessimize the whole system – and hence the bottom line.1999, Paul Hawken, Amory B[loch] Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins, “Tunneling through the Cost Barrier”, in Natural Capitalism: The Next Industrial Revolution, London: Earthscan Publications, →ISBN, page 117

   Antonyms:

   optimize

3. (intransitive) To think like a pessimist; to believe the worst.
   • The pessimising and desponding tone of the Tory Foreign Minister's correspondence, in the early part of 1859, can hardly be read without a shudder.1865 August 19, “The Fifty Years’ Peace between Britain and France”, in The Illustrated London News, volume XLVII, numbers 1329–1330, London: Printed & published by George C. Leighton […], →OCLC...
   • Glancing at the developments of individualities in memberdom, it may be said that Lord Elebo availed himself of the last appearance in the House of the Army Estimates to repeat the attacks on the physical condition of the men of the service which he had so elaborately made a week or two ago; and he...1875 May 29, “Sketches in Parliament”, in The Illustrated London News, volume LXVI, number 1868, London: Printed & published by George C. Leighton […], →OCLC, page 510, column 1

   Antonyms:

   optimize

4. (intransitive) To become pessimal or the worst.
   • Without an effort to integrate the various design disciplines, for instance, individual subsystems (such as the HVAC system) may be optimized, but the system as a whole may be "pessimized."2008, Jerry Yudelson, “The Costs of Green Buildings”, in The Green Building Revolution, Washington, D.C.; Covelo, Calif.: Island Press, →ISBN, page 50

   Antonyms:

   optimize