MEANING
1. The reduction of an amount, level, or cost toward the lowest attainable value.
2. The presentation of something as less important, extensive, or serious than it actually is.
Use it for
describing an effort to reduce an unwanted quantity; specifying the objective of an optimization procedure; distinguishing reduction from complete eliminationSeparates reducing an amount from merely portraying it as smaller or less serious. Academic functions: Analysis / Interpretation.
Words that belong together
- cost minimization
- risk minimization
- error minimization
On the page
The model assumes cost minimization subject to production requirements.
Risk minimization does not imply that all risk can be eliminated.
The critic identifies a minimization of violence in the narrator’s euphemistic account.
The report’s minimization of uncertainty made the conclusion appear firmer than the evidence allowed.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- minimization
Usage notes
Normally uncountable. British minimisation is a spelling variant. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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