optimization
noun
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Optimization started its gradual perfection in mid-19th-century English, when it was derived from optimize, a word first used in the early part of that same century with the meaning "to make the best or most of." In basic applications, optimization refers to the act or process of making something as good as it can be. In the 21st century, it has seen much use in technical contexts having to do with attaining the best possible functionality, as in "network optimization" and "search engine optimization" (SEO). Like the words optimum and optimism (which refer, respectively, to the amount or degree of something that is best or most effective, and to a feeling or belief that good things will happen in the future), optimize and optimization derive from Latin optimus, meaning "best."
Examples of optimization in a Sentence
Stackcommerce Team, PC Magazine, 8 Apr. 2026
For a piece in this week’s issue, Dhruv Khullar, a practicing physician and a contributing writer, investigated this growing industry, speaking to the doctors who are tinkering with compounds and the users gamely jabbing themselves in a quest for self-optimization.
—Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2026
Key areas of investment include cybersecurity, data privacy, process automation and optimization, and advanced data and analytics platforms.
—Terrence Curtin, Fortune, 7 Apr. 2026
The companies winning today — those pushing innovation in tech, healthcare, design and beyond — are the ones investing in human optimization, not simply human output.
—Elan Gepner-Dales, Rolling Stone, 6 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for optimization
Cite this Entry
“Optimization.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/optimization. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.
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