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downsizing

/ˈdaʊnsaɪzɪŋ/  ·  say it: DOWN·sy·zing

reducing a workforce to cut costs

In Business & Marketing

In more detail

1. (noun) the process of making something smaller in size or amount

2. (noun) the reduction of a company's workforce by laying off employees

3. (verb) to reduce the size or amount of something; to make something smaller

Examples

• 1. The company announced a downsizing of its operations in three countries.
• 2. Many employees lost their jobs during the bank's downsizing last year.
• 3. They decided to downsize their staff to cut costs.

How to use downsizing

Downsizing primarily refers to reducing the scale of operations or workforce, though it can apply to any reduction in size or amount. In business contexts, it often carries negative connotations as it involves job losses, while in personal contexts (downsizing a home) it may be neutral or positive. The term is more common in formal business writing than in everyday speech.

Register: formal

Common phrases

• corporate downsizing
• workforce downsizing
• downsizing efforts
• downsizing costs
• undergo downsizing
• announce downsizing

Synonyms

reduction · cutback · scaling down · streamlining · rightsizing

Opposites

expansion · growth · upsizing

Word family

downsize (verb) · downsized (adjective) · downsizer (noun)

A common mistake

Learners sometimes use 'downsizing' to mean simply making something physically smaller (like a garment), when the term is more specifically about organizational or significant structural reduction.

Nearby in Business & Marketing

cross-selling, crowdfunding, deliverable, economies of scale, entrepreneur, escalation

Keep going

How to remember the words you read · Spaced repetition, explained