Word.ws English Dictionary

synchronise

synchronise is the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of synchronize.

Meaning of synchronize

Verb

synchronize (third-person singular simple present synchronizes, present participle synchronizing, simple past and past participle synchronized)

  1. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive, transitive) To occur at the same time or with coordinated timing.
    • The path of this great empire, through its arch of progress, synchronized with that of Christianity.1839, Thomas De Quincey, Philosophy of Roman History
    Synonyms:
    sync, synch, sync up
  2. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To cause (video and audio) to play in a coordinated way.
    Synonyms:
    sync, synch, sync up
  3. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To set (a clock or watch) to display the same time as another.
    • We synchronized our watches and agreed to meet at four o'clock precisely.
  4. (British, English, Oxford, US, ambitransitive) To cause (a set of files, data, or settings) on one computer or device to be (and try to remain) the same as on another.
  5. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive) To agree, be coordinated with, or complement well.
    • Gay men often have interests and concerns that don't synchronize with the issues considered top priorities by lesbians.1986, Max C. Smith, “By the Year 2000”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 224
  6. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To coordinate or combine.

Forms of synchronise

third-person singular presentsynchronises
present participlesynchronising
past participlesynchronised
pastsynchronised

Origin of synchronise

From Ancient Greek συγχρονίζω (sunkhronízō), equivalent to syn- + chrono- + -ise.

Words formed from synchronise

Questions about synchronise

What is synchronise the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of?
Synchronise is the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of synchronize.

Words near synchronise in the dictionary

  1. synchronisable
  2. synchronisation
  3. synchronisation proxies
  4. synchronisation proxy
  5. synchronisations
  6. synchronise
  7. synchronised
  8. synchronised skating
  9. synchronised swimmer
  10. synchronised swimmers
  11. synchronised swimming

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: synchronise (page history and authors); synchronize (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.

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

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