downsize

UK/ˈdaʊnsaɪz/US/ˈdaʊnsaɪz/

verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,220 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: downsized, downsizing

To downsize is to cut the number of people a company employs. Downsize the workforce, downsizing again, forced to downsize.

It is a euphemism and everybody knows it, which is why the word has become a joke rather than a cover. Of a house it means moving to a smaller one, usually after children leave, and that sense is neutral.

Definitions of downsize

1verbdownsizeTo cut the number of people a company employs.C1
“The factory had to downsize and let two hundred workers go.”

downsize is a cutting.

Where it comes from

Middle English
doun
English
down
English, today
downsize

Built from

doune · Middle English — down
adūne · Old English — down, downward
ofdūne · Old English — down (literally “off the hill”)
of · Old English — of, off of

From down- + size. down comes from Middle English doun. From Middle English doun, doune (“down”), from Old English dūne (“down”), aphetic form of adūne (“down, downward”), from earlier ofdūne (“down”) literally “off the hill”, from of (“of, off of”) + dūn (“hill, mount, dune, down”). More at Etymology 2 below. For the development from directional phrases to prepositions, compare dene, dāle, whence dal. Compare also stq, del. Cognate with Scots doon (“down”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

downsize in the wild

The settlement continued to downsize and since, all that remains is few homes.
Bagley, Oconto County, Wisconsin
A downsize of the lab facilities were relocated and installed at Archives New Zealand.
Park Road Post
In June 1993 the government announced plans to downsize the 50,000-strong Zimbabwe National Army by 10,000 men over the next five years.
1990s in Zimbabwe
Commenced during the Malaise era, downsizing is done in response to consumer and government demands influencing vehicle design.
Downsize (automobile)
In 1977, General Motors became the first American manufacturer to introduce downsized versions of its full-size product line.
Downsize (automobile)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the doune family

down

downsize — used about once every 20,553 pages · #13,220 · point at the bar for the others

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