minimize

minimize

English

Alternative forms

• minimise (non-Oxford British spelling)

Etymology

From Latin.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪn.ɪ.maɪz/, /ˈmɪn.ə.maɪz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪn.ɨ.maɪz/, /ˈmɪn.əˌmaɪz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To make (something) smaller or as small as possible; shrink; reduce.

   We have to minimize the budget.

   Try to minimize your biases.

2. (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.

3. (computing, transitive, graphical user interface) 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.

4. (transitive) To treat (someone) in a slighting manner.
   • 1993, Jan McDaniel, One Golden Summer, page 95:

     […] father who had never openly minimized him or anything he did […]

Translations

To make small as possible

Armenian: նվազագույնի հասցնել (nvazaguyni hascʿnel), նվազեցնել (hy) (nvazecʿnel) Bulgarian: намалявам (bg) (namaljavam), минимизирам (minimiziram) Catalan: minimitzar (ca) Czech: minimalizovat Estonian: minimaliseerima Finnish: minimoida (fi), vähätellä (fi) French: minimiser (fr) German: minimieren (de) Greek: ελαχιστοποιώ (el) (elachistopoió) Irish: íoslaghdaigh, íosmhéadaigh Italian: minimizzare (it) Maori: whakamōkito Polish: minimalizować impf, zminimalizować pf Portuguese: minimizar (pt) Russian: минимизи́ровать (ru) impf or pf (minimizírovatʹ), своди́ть к ми́нимуму impf (svodítʹ k mínimumu) Spanish: minimizar (es) Swedish: minimera (sv) Thai: ย่อ (th) (yɔ̂ɔ) Turkish: azaltmak (tr), cüceleştirmek, küçültmek (tr), asgarīye indirmek, en aza indirgemek, (construction) en aza indirgemek Ukrainian: мінімізува́ти impf or pf (minimizuváty)

(computing) To cause a window to disappear

Armenian: նվազեցնել (hy) (nvazecʿnel) Bulgarian: затварям (bg) (zatvarjam) Catalan: minimitzar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 最小化 (zh) (zuìxiǎohuà) Estonian: ahendama Finnish: pienentää (fi) French: réduire (fr) Galician: minimizar German: minimieren (de) Japanese: 最小化する (さいしょうかする, saishōka suru) Latin: abscondo, obscuro (la) Maori: whakamōkito Portuguese: minimizar (pt) Russian: свора́чивать (ru) impf (svoráčivatʹ), сверну́ть (ru) pf (svernútʹ), минимизи́ровать (ru) impf or pf (minimizírovatʹ) Spanish: minimizar (es) Swedish: dölja (sv), minimera (sv) Thai: ย่อ (th) (yɔ̂ɔ) Turkish: küçült, simge durumuna küçült

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Portuguese

Verb

minimize

1. inflection of minimizar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative