Etymologically
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maximize

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈmæksəmaɪz/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English maximum + -ize.[2][3][4] The OED and the Oxford Dictionary of English take it instead from Latin maximus (“greatest”) with the suffix -ize.[5][6][7] The Latin word is the superlative of magnus (“great, large”).[2] The OED compares French maximiser, recorded in 1828 in a translation of Bentham, and minimize.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make as great as possible, to raise to the highest degree: 1802 according to Etymonline and Merriam-Webster, first in Bentham, who used it often.[2][3] The OED's first record is from Bentham's Chrestomathia (1815).[5] Dictionary.com dates it 1795–1805.[4]

Semantic evolution

The verb is frequent in economic contexts, and also means to make the best possible use of something.[5][3] In theology, from 1875, it meant to hold the strictest or most far-reaching interpretation of a doctrine or obligation, a use now obsolete;[5][7] the noun maximizer was used in this sense from 1868, of those who read the dogma of papal infallibility most widely.[5] The intransitive sense "to reach a maximum value" is recorded from 1941,[5] and in mathematics the verb means to find the maximum of a function.[8]

Timeline

  • 1802 – to increase to the highest degree (Bentham).[2][3]
  • 1815 – first OED record, in Bentham's Chrestomathia.[5]
  • 1875 – in theology, to interpret a doctrine as strictly as possible (obsolete by 1898).[5]
  • 1941 – intransitive, to reach a maximum value.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To increase something to the highest possible degree or amount: The farm uses drip irrigation to maximize its yield.[3][8][5]
  2. To make the most of something; to give it the greatest possible importance or value.[3][5]
  3. (mathematics) To find the maximum value of a function.[8]
  4. To reach a maximum value.[5]

Word family

  • maximization
  • maximizer

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins