optimize

Etymology

It is formed from English optimum + -ize,^[2][3][4] or directly from Latin optimus (“best”) with the suffix;^[5][6][7] optimum is the neuter singular of the Latin adjective, used as the superlative of bonus (“good”).^[8] The sense "to act as an optimist" was formed after optimism and optimist:^[5] Etymonline and Barnhart call it a back-formation from optimist,^[8][2] and Merriam-Webster gives that sense its own entry, derived from optimist.^[4] Etymonline notes that optimus may be related to ops (“power, resources”), from Proto-Indo-European *op- (“to work, produce in abundance”), as Watkins suggests, or to ob (“in front of”), as de Vaan suggests.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make the best or most of something, to develop it to the utmost: 1817, in Leigh Hunt's writing in the Examiner.^[5] Merriam-Webster gives the same year,^[4] while Barnhart and Etymonline date this sense to 1857^[2][8] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1835–45.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the verb had two senses: to make the most of something (1817–94), and, after optimist, to take a hopeful view of things (1844–69), first recorded in an article by Gladstone in the Quarterly Review.^[5][2] The OED marks both as obsolete,^[5] but Collins and Merriam-Webster still list "to be optimistic".^[9][4] The current sense, to make something as good or as effective as possible, appears in economics in 1941, in the American Economic Review;^[5] from there it spread to engineering and computing, where a program is optimized for speed or storage.^[9] The intransitive use "to become optimal" (1971) is rare, and "to carry out a process of optimization" is recorded from 1988.^[5]

Timeline

• 1817 – to make the best or most of; to develop to the utmost (obsolete by 1894).^[5][4]
• 1844 – to act as an optimist, to take a favourable view of things.^[5][2][8]
• 1941 – to make as good or effective as possible, in economics.^[5]
• 1971 – intransitive, to become optimal (rare).^[5]
• 1988 – intransitive, to carry out optimization.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make something as effective, efficient or useful as possible: The firm optimized its delivery routes to save fuel.^[4][9][5]
2. To plan or carry out an economic activity with the greatest efficiency.^[9]
3. In computing, to write or change a program so that it uses as little time, memory or other resources as possible.^[9]
4. To find the best compromise among several conflicting requirements, as in engineering design.^[9]
5. To make the fullest use of something; to take full advantage of it.^[9][6]
6. To be optimistic; to take a hopeful view.^[9][4]

Word family

• optimizer
• optimization

Related words

• optimal
• optimism
• optimist
• optimum

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins