Synchronising

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Causing two or more processes to occur simultaneously or in a coordinated manner
2. Coordinating different events or devices to function together in time
3. Aligning actions or operations so that they happen at the same time or in harmony

Etymology: "Synchronising" is the present participle of "synchronise", so the real story belongs to its root. The verb comes from Ancient Greek "sunkhronizein", built from "sun-" meaning "together" and "khronos" meaning "time", with the verb-forming ending "-izein" that English later rendered as "-ise". Put together, the Greek means something close to "to make things happen at the same time." The Greek word "khronos" is the same root that gives English "chronology", "chronic" and "chronometer", so the family of words is large even though the individual terms look unrelated. The "syn-" prefix shows up across English in words like "symbiosis" and "sympathy", where it likewise signals togetherness.

Synonyms: coordinating, harmonizing, aligning, timing, simultaneous

Antonyms: disorganizing, differentiating, disconnecting, diverging, misaligning