Minify

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To reduce the overall size or complexity of an application or document while ensuring that its primary functions remain intact
2. To make an object, document, or file significantly smaller in size or simpler in structure without losing its essential features
3. To reduce the scale or complexity of content or code so that it takes up less space but retains its usability

Etymology: "Minify" is built from "mini-" and "-fy," and the combination is a plain one: the first part is the clipped form of "miniature" or "minimum" family words, and the second is the familiar suffix meaning "to make" or "to cause to become," as in "clarify" or "simplify." Put together, the verb means to make something smaller. What makes the word worth a closer look is how narrowly its sense has settled. Outside software, "minify" has no everyday use. Programmers apply it to web code, stripping out spaces, line breaks, comments and shortened variable names so that a page loads faster. The result still runs exactly as before, which is why the meaning includes the phrase "retains its usability." The shrinking is purely mechanical: nothing is rewritten, only compacted. The word therefore describes a deliberate trade. The code is made harder for a human to read in exchange for being quicker for a browser to download, and the original is usually kept for editing.

Synonyms: reduce, compress, diminish, shrink, lessen

Antonyms: enlarge, expand, increase, boost, amplify