downsize
verb
Simple meaning
To make a company or its staff numbers smaller.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
downsyzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdaʊnsaɪz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To reduce the workforce of.
of a company
Reduce in size or number of employees
“The company downsized its research staff.”
transitiveeuphemistic
To terminate the employment of.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To reduce the workforce of.
Used this way, downsize is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use downsize
- “The company downsized its research staff.”verb
- “The car makers downsized the SUVs when fuel became very expensive.”verb
- “Three secretaries were downsized during the financial crisis.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The reduction of expenditures in order to become financially stable.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.