| 词组 | minimize |
| 释义 | minimize The commentary on minimize in the usage books consists of, first, objecting to the sense meaning "to estimate in the least possible terms" (a sense recorded in most dictionaries) and, second, objecting to its use with certain modifiers such as greatly or as far as possible. The first of these complaints seems to hinge either on a wrongheaded insistence on the word's having only one meaning or on excessive concern with the word estimate, which is used in the definition in several dictionaries, including ours and the OED, as if minimize were therefore some technical term and hence could not mean "play down." However, play down is simply an idiomatic equivalent of what the dictionary definitions are really saying. Here are some examples of the sense: • ... sources which have steadily rigged statistics to minimize adverse trends —American Mercury, February 1953 • There was no disposition to slight industrial contractors or minimize the immense contribution they could make —James Phinney Baxter 3d, Scientists Against Time, 1946 • ... stresses the fun and minimizes the scholarship — B. A. Botkin, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 24 Apr. 1955 • ... did not try to hide or minimize the uglier aspects of the Resistance —Times Literary Supp., 18 Dec. 1969 • ... urged the public not to minimise the bomb problem —Andrew Boyle, The Listener, 30 Aug. 1973 • ... dresses for the maid of honor—all selected to minimize her sister Margaret's stockiness —Shirley Ann Grau, Cosmopolitan, January 1972 This sense is a century old and entirely standard. The second objection may be a bit of a straw man. Bernstein 1965 does produce an example of "minimize as far as possible" and points out the redundancy of the "as far as possible." However, such usages are extremely rare in our files. If the usage is at all common, it may be primarily spoken rather than written. |
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