Other forms: minimising, minimised, minimises
To minimise is to make something as small as possible. Reduce it to the least it can be.
It is used about risk, damage, cost and disruption, and minimising risk is one of the standard phrases of any plan. There is a second and quite different sense meaning to make something seem less important than it is, so minimising somebody's concerns is a criticism. Computing has a third, since minimising a window shrinks it to the taskbar. British English spells it with an s and American with a z.
1verbminimiseTo reduce something to the smallest possible amount.
“The aim is to minimise disruption to residents.”
2verbappearTo make something appear less serious than it is.
“Do not minimise what she went through.”
Also accepted in games: minimize
minimize comes from minimus + -ize.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 38 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word