Master confusing words with ease
Diminish vs. Minimize
Diminish
/dəˈmɪnɪʃ/Examples:
Akakii Akakievichs cheerfulness diminished at this point in a marked degree.On the contrary, it will diminish.His authority began to diminish after the scandal.
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Antonyms:
Minimize
/ˈmɪnəmaɪz/Examples:
He tried to minimize the damage caused by his error.Let's minimize waste to support environmental efforts.We need to minimize costs for a higher profit margin.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Ways to tell them apart:
- Remember that minimize often suggests reducing something to the smallest possible degree, like minimizing expenses.
- Diminish suggests a reduction or decrease in size, importance, or intensity, but not necessarily to the smallest possible degree.
- Think of minimize as a proactive strategy; it's something you do deliberately to achieve the least amount of something, like minimizing risk.
- Diminish can sometimes imply a passive reduction, like interest that diminishes over time.
- When you minimize something, you want to make it minimal, but when something diminishes, it might eventually go away altogether.
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