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
Hanna Wickes, Miami Herald, 18 May 2026
The goal is early detection of disease risk and long-term health optimization — catching what’s brewing before symptoms ever surface.
—Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 18 May 2026
Automation, productivity, data analytics, marketing optimization and intelligent assistants dominate discussions in boardrooms, conferences and business schools.
—Jose Luis Gonzalez Rodriguez, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026
Instead of solving the full optimization problem in a brute-force way, TFC allows key physical constraints (like leaving Earth in a tangential burn) to be built directly into the mathematical formulation.
—Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 17 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for optimization
Cite this Entry
“Optimization.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/optimization. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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