minimize

verb

1. 1

   To make (something) smaller or as small as possible; shrink; reduce.

   We have to minimize the budget.

   Try to minimize your biases.

   Terry, author of the indispensable Terry's Guide to Mexico, has a name for it – atrabiliousness. "The defect of many of the murals," he says, speaking of those in the orphan asylum, "is the facial atrabiliousness of some of the subjects. To the observer it minimizes the grandeur of the conception […]"

   For accurate stopping, the drive must incorporate means for minimizing inertia overdrift.

2. 2

   To relegate or assign (something) to a less insignificant status; diminish.

   The insurance adjuster tried to minimize the extent of the damage to lessen the company's exposure to liability.

3. 3

   To remove (a window) from the main display area, collapsing it to an icon or caption.

   I didn't close anything, but I minimized all the windows so I could see the desktop.

4. 4

   To treat (someone) in a slighting manner.

   […] father who had never openly minimized him or anything he did […]

5. 5

   To treat as trivial or insignificant; to trivialize.

   to minimize someone's feelings

Forms

past tense

minimized

past participle

minimized

present participle

minimizing

third person singular

minimizes