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View synonyms for strategize

strategize

[ strat-i-jahyz ]

verb (used without object)

, strat·e·gized, strat·e·giz·ing.
  1. to make up or determine strategy; plan.


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Word History and Origins

Origin of strategize1

First recorded in 1970–75; strateg(y) + -ize
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Example Sentences

Asked if a triple play even crossed his mind as he strategized for the Rojas at-bat, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “No, not at all.”

Some of us will save all year for a big luxurious blowout; others will strategize to minimize costs.

The strategizing comes to a quietly operatic climax in Episode 8, “The Abyss of Life.”

As students return this fall, colleges are bracing for more protests over the Israel-Hamas war and are strategizing over how to handle protests, including when to call in law enforcement.

Roster size limits, in lieu of scholarship caps, still must be agreed upon between schools and conferences, so athletic departments can strategize how to allocate the money across sports.

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More About Strategize

What does strategize mean?

To strategize is to plan or create a plan or strategy for a specific reason or goal.

A strategy is a plan for a course of action, especially one that prepares for multiple scenarios or situations. Strategize is commonly used in any context that involves extensive planning, especially the military, business, politics, and sports.

Example: One candidate had clearly strategized before the debate and knew how to answer every question and respond to every attack. The other candidate was obviously winging it.

Where does strategize come from?

Strategize is a combination of strategy and -ize, a suffix that converts nouns and adjectives into verbs (you could say it verbizes them, if you didn’t care about whether verbize was a word or not). Strategize has been recorded in English since the 1830s. Strategy dates back to at least the early 1600s and comes from the Greek stratēgía, meaning “office or command of a general.”

The word’s etymology hints at how its meaning has changed over time. Originally, strategy was a military term, referring to battle campaigns. But by the late 1800s, both strategy and strategize had broadened to encompass other types of plans. To strategize is to create a plan, but usually not just any plan: a long-term, complex, or multifaceted one, one that helps you be prepared for many different contingencies, or possibilities (much like how a general would need to be prepared for many different battle scenarios).

Classically, strategize has been used as an intransitive verb, meaning it doesn’t have an object (you can just strategize—you don’t need to strategize a plan). But since at least the mid-1800s, it has also been used transitively, as in Let’s strategize a course of action to increase our profits.

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What are some other forms of strategize?

  • strategizing

What are some synonyms for strategize?

What are some words that share a root or word element with strategize?

What are some words that often get used in discussing strategize?

How is strategize used in real life?

Strategize can be used to refer to planning for any type of thing, but it usually involves extensive thought and preparation—not just a quick decision.

 

Try using strategize!

Which of the following is the best synonym for strategize?

A. ad-lib
B. wing it
C. fly by the seat of your pants
D. scheme

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