Meanings
present singular third person minimizes · participle present minimizing · participle past minimized · past minimized · alternative minimise
- transitiveTo make (something) smaller or as small as possible; shrink; reduce.
Try to minimize your biases.
4 more examples
We have to minimize the budget.
Terry, author of the indispensable Terry's Guide to Mexico, has a name for it – atrabiliousness. "The defect of many of the murals," he says, speaking of those in the orphan asylum, "is the facial atrabiliousness of some of the subjects. 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 13For accurate stopping, the drive must incorporate means for minimizing inertia overdrift.
1954, Instruments and Control Systems - Volume 27, page 1466One 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 CrimeSynonyms: besmall, smallify, abase, abate, belittle, besmall, bring down, embase · Antonyms: maximize
- transitiveTo 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 - transitiveTo treat as trivial or insignificant; to trivialize.
to minimize someone's feelings
Synonyms: banalize, disparage, play down, bagatellize, banalize, belittle, cut down, de-emphasize
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo make (something) smaller or as small as possible; shrink; reduce.
verbTo relegate or assign (something) to a less insignificant status; diminish.
verbTo remove (a window) from the main display area, collapsing it to an icon or caption.
verbTo treat as trivial or insignificant; to trivialize.
More synonyms by meaning
verbcause to seem less serious; play down
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian намалявам, минимизирам
- намалявам (namaljavam)to make small as possible
- минимизирам (minimiziram)to make small as possible
- затварям (zatvarjam)(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Catalan minimitzar, minimitzar
- minimitzarto make small as possible
- minimitzar(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Chinese Mandarin 最小化, 最小化
- 最小化 (zuìxiǎohuà)to make small as possible
- 最小化 (zuìxiǎohuà)(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Czech minimalizovat
- minimalizovatto make small as possible
Estonian minimaliseerima, ahendama
- minimaliseerimato make small as possible
- ahendama(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Finnish minimoida, vähätellä
- minimoidato make small as possible
- vähätelläto make small as possible
- pienentää(computing) to cause a window to disappear
French minimiser, réduire
- minimiserto make small as possible
- réduire(computing) to cause a window to disappear
German minimieren, minimieren
- minimierento make small as possible
- minimieren(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Greek ελαχιστοποιώ
- ελαχιστοποιώ (elachistopoió)to make small as possible
Irish íoslaghdaigh, íosmhéadaigh
- íoslaghdaighto make small as possible
- íosmhéadaighto make small as possible
Italian minimizzare
- minimizzareto make small as possible
Japanese 最小化する, 最小化する
- 最小化する (saishōka suru)to make small as possible
- 最小化する (saishōka suru)(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Korean 최소화(最小化)하다, 최소화(最小化)하다
- 최소화(最小化)하다 (choesohwahada)to make small as possible
- 최소화(最小化)하다 (choesohwahada)(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Latin abscondo, obscuro
- abscondo(computing) to cause a window to disappear
- obscuro(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Māori whakamōkito, whakamōkito
- whakamōkitoto make small as possible
- whakamōkito(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Polish minimalizować, zminimalizować
- minimalizowaćto make small as possible
- zminimalizowaćto make small as possible
Portuguese minimizar, minimizar
- minimizarto make small as possible
- minimizar(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Russian минимизи́ровать, своди́ть к ми́нимуму
- минимизи́ровать (minimizírovatʹ)to make small as possible
- своди́ть к ми́нимуму (svodítʹ k mínimumu)to make small as possible
- свора́чивать (svoráčivatʹ)(computing) to cause a window to disappear
- сверну́ть (svernútʹ)(computing) to cause a window to disappear
- минимизи́ровать (minimizírovatʹ)(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Spanish minimizar, achicar
- minimizarto make small as possible
- achicarto make small as possible
- minimizar(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Swedish minimera, dölja
- minimerato make small as possible
- dölja(computing) to cause a window to disappear
- minimera(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Thai ย่อ, ย่อ
- ย่อ (yɔ̂ɔ)to make small as possible
- ย่อ (yɔ̂ɔ)(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Turkish azaltmak, cüceleştirmek
- azaltmakto make small as possible
- cüceleştirmekto make small as possible
- küçültmekto make small as possible
- asgarīye indirmekto make small as possible
- en aza indirgemekto make small as possible
- en aza indirgemekto make small as possible
- küçült(computing) to cause a window to disappear
- simge durumuna küçült(computing) to cause a window to disappear
Ukrainian мінімізува́ти
- мінімізува́ти (minimizuváty)to make small as possible
Cite this entry
minimize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/minimize
“minimize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/minimize. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “minimize,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/minimize.
Source: minimize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.