Meanings
nounsuperoptimization (uncountable)
- uncountablecomputingA form of peephole optimization that typically uses an exhaustive brute-force search across all possible sequences of machine instructions.
As such, we implemented a state-of-the-art stochastic superoptimization approach, adapted it to the sort setting and used it as the learning algorithm in AlphaDev.
2023 June 28, Daniel J. Mankowitz, Andrea Michi, Anton Zhernov, Marco Gelmi, Marco Selvi, “Faster sorting algorithms discovered using deep reinforcement learning”, in Nature, volume 618, number 7964, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 257–263
Origin
Coined by American computer scientist and programmer Alexia Massalin in 1987, from super- + optimization.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
superoptimization. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/superoptimization
MLA
“superoptimization.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/superoptimization. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “superoptimization,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/superoptimization.
Source: superoptimization on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.