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to synchronize

to synchronize

49 4.7
To make two or more things happen at the same time
  • verb
  • /ˈsɪŋkrəˌnaɪz/
  • US
translation icon : sincronizar
  • On each aerial pass, time spent counting was synchronized among the observers and recorded to the second.
  • synchronize clocks
  • synchronize time
  • synchronize to the beat

And I said, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, we're going to have to synchronize our watches like in the movies.

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Examples

  • Let's synchronize watches.

    South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

  • Babies, however, are not able to fully synchronize their bodies to the musical pulse.

    Academic text (2015)

  • So your heart rate can actually synchronize to a piece of music.

  • I'll contact you when we're ready to synchronize the generator.

    The China Syndrome (1979)

  • The companies in this region operate as part of a single synchronized network.

    Academic text (2001)

  • So to do this, we take radio dishes all around the globe and we synchronize them with atomic clocks.

  • And I said, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, we're going to have to synchronize our watches like in the movies.

    Danny Jones

  • Let's synchronize the watches.

    Stalag 17 (1953)

  • We held our breath when she held hers, like synchronized swimmers, for dead seconds at a time.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • We need to synchronize our watches before the race starts.

Synonyms

to coordinate
vsto synchronize
325 4.1

To arrange people or activities so they work well together

emphasizes making events happen at same time or rate rather than general organization
to sync
vsto synchronize
  • Informal
34 3.9

To make two or more things happen at the same time and match each other

makes things happen at the same time or rate rather than only exact matches
to contemporize
vsto synchronize
  • US
9.4

Arrange events so they appear to happen at the same time

focuses on exact simultaneous timing or matching rates not shared period

Antonyms

to desynchronize
  • Specialized
8.6

Make things that were at the same time happen at different times

How Synchronized

to synchronize
  • US
49 4.7
to harmonize
  • US
10 4.1
to coordinate
325 4.1

Surface Forms

synchronize infinitive
synchronise infinitive
synchronized past
synchronised past
synchronized past participle
synchronised past participle
synchronizing present participle
synchronising present participle
synchronizes third person singular
synchronises third person singular

Morphology

synchronize = synchronous (semi-transparent) = syn + chron + ize

The verb means 'make (things) occur at the same time', which follows from 'synchronous' + '-ize', but the core element 'chron' (time) is a Greek combining form not obvious to an average B1 learner, so the relation is only partly transparent.

Etymology

The word synchronize comes from the Greek parts syn- 'together' and chronos 'time', like the English word chronology ('order of time'). So to synchronize things is to make them happen 'together in time' or to match their timing.