Minimise

How to spell minimise

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce minimise

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does minimise mean?

1. verbTo reduce something to the smallest possible amount, level, or degree.
2. verbTo make something seem less serious or important than it really is.
3. verbTo shrink an open window or application to the taskbar without closing it.

Minimise in a sentence

• Good insulation will minimise heat loss during the winter.

• The manager tried to minimise the impact of the missed deadline on the team.

• Click the small dash in the corner to minimise the spreadsheet while you take notes.

• The new procedure is designed to minimise delays at the checkout.

• Do not minimise how much effort the project actually required.

• She likes to minimise every program before locking her screen.

Where does minimise come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the Latin minimus, meaning 'smallest' or 'least', which is the superlative of parvus, 'small'. The same minimus root sits inside the everyday words 'minimum' and 'minimal', all of them pointing to the smallest possible amount of something. English coined minimise around the late 1700s and early 1800s as a deliberate counterpart to 'maximise', meaning to reduce something to the least possible degree or to play down its importance. The ending was attached using the suffix -ise, which English took from French -iser and ultimately from the Greek verb-forming element -izein, 'to make or do'. In British usage the -ise spelling is the conventional form, and it is worth remembering that the unstressed middle vowel (min-i-mise) is a schwa, which is exactly where careless spellers can slip.

How the word is built

• minim- (from Latin minimus: smallest)
• -ise (verb-forming suffix)

British and American spelling

Minimise is the British spelling. American English spells it minimize.