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
Alexa Mikhail, Flow Space, 22 Dec. 2025
Competition between brands, panel supply expansion, the optimization of manufacturing processes, and the commoditization of supporting components reduce prices too.
—New Atlas, 21 Dec. 2025
However, while industrial-scale production will require further optimization, particularly to reduce milling time, this work demonstrates that high-performance graphene does not need to come at an environmental cost.
—Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 20 Dec. 2025
Hotels offer a setting where optimization can occur without friction — folded into travel rather than carved out from it.
—Amy Francombe, Vogue, 19 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for optimization
Cite this Entry
“Optimization.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/optimization. Accessed 25 Dec. 2025.
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