downsize
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++LDOCE 5++down·size /ˈdaʊnsaɪz/ verb [intransitive, transitive] BBBEif a company or organization downsizes, it reduces the number of people it employs in order to reduce costs 〔公司、机构为缩减开支而〕裁（员），紧缩（编制） The airline has downsized its workforce by 30%. 这家航空公司裁员30%。► see thesaurus at reduce —downsizing noun [uncountable]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
downsize• And the overall quality of care remains vulnerable to health industry cost-cutting and downsizing.• Feds, in recent years, have learned about downsizing.• Another year, another downsizing, and this time a monster.• The boxes are clearly aimed at data intensive applications downsizing from mainframes.• Some argue that downsizing is dissolving the glue that has traditionally held companies together, and without which they may never flourish.• For devotees of downsizing, the signs are that this could be a vintage year.From Longman Business Dictionarydownsizedown‧size /ˈdaʊnsaɪz/ verb1[intransitive, transitive]HUMAN RESOURCES if a company downsizes, it reduces the number of employees and levels of management that it hasIf your company downsizes and you are over 50, your working life may be over.We have cut expenses and downsized our operations so that we will be in a position to capitalize on a gradually improving market.2[transitive] to make something smallerThis software is the perfect tool for resizing or downsizing pictures from a digital camera. —downsized adjectiveMany downsized banks have seen their customers’ satisfaction plummet.Turbo-charging a downsized engine delivers power that is equivalent to a larger system. → see also restructure→ See Verb tabledown·size verbChineseSyllable
if Business it a organization downsizes, Corpus company or
downsize
down‧size /ˈdaʊnsaɪz/
verb [intransitive and transitive]
if a company or organization downsizes, it reduces the number of people it employs in order to reduce costs:
The airline has downsized its workforce by 30%.
—downsizing noun [uncountable]
■ to reduce prices, numbers, or amounts
▪reduce to make the price, amount, or size of something less or smaller: The price was reduced by 50%. | We need to reduce the amount of salt in our diet.
▪cut to reduce something, especially by a large amount – used about prices, costs, jobs, or the time needed to do something: Companies are always looking for ways to cut costs. | The journey time will be cut to under 2 hours. | Staff numbers have been cut by half to about 150.
▪lower to reduce the level, limit, or amount of something. Lower sounds rather formal: The voting age was lowered to 18. | The government decided to lower interest rates by 0.5%. | After twenty minutes, lower the temperature to 150 degrees.
▪bring something down to reduce something such as prices or costs, or reduce the level of something. Bring something down is less formal than lower: The government wants to bring down the level of inflation. | The company is trying to bring its costs down.
▪slash informal to reduce an amount or price by a very large amount – used especially in newspapers and advertisements: Public spending has been slashed over the past two years. | Prices slashed for one week only!
▪cut something back to reduce the amount of something – used especially about people deciding to spend less, do less, or use less of something: The education budget has been cut back again. | I need to cut back on my workload.
▪downsize to reduce the number of people employed in order to reduce costs – used about a company or organization: The company is planning to downsize its European operations.
▪scale something down/back to reduce the size or the amount of money that is being spent on something: The research programme has been scaled down. | The navy is being scaled down.
▪relieve/ease to make pain or feelings less unpleasant: The drug is used to relieve pain. | A joke can help to ease the tension.
▪alleviate formal to reduce pain or suffering, or make a problem less serious: You can buy various medicines to alleviate the symptoms of flu. | The new road was supposed to alleviate the congestion problem.
down‧size /ˈdaʊnsaɪz/
verb [intransitive and transitive]if a company or organization downsizes, it reduces the number of people it employs in order to reduce costs:
—downsizing noun [uncountable]
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cut to reduce sth, especially an amount of money that is demanded, spent, earned, etc. or the size of a business 指削减、缩减、裁减（尤指经费、开支、收入或生意规模） ：◆ The President has promised to cut taxes significantly. 总统承诺大幅度减税。 ◆ Buyers will bargain hard to cut the cost of the house they want. 买主会竭力讨价还价以压低他们想买的房子的价格。 ◆ His salary has been cut by ten per cent. 他的薪金减少了百分之十。 ◆ Could you cut your essay from 5 000 to 3 000 words? 请把你的文章从 5 000 字删减至 3 000 字好吗？ slash [ ( (often used in newspapers) to reduce sth by a large amountrather
（常用于报章）指大幅度削减、大大降低 ：◆ The workforce has been slashed by half. 职工人数裁减了一半。 cut sth back/cut back on sth to reduce sth, especially an amount of money or business 指削减、缩减、裁减（尤指经费或生意） ：◆ We had to cut back production. 我们只得减产了。 scale sth back ( to reduce sth, especially an amount of money or businessespecially
NAmE or business 商业 指削减、缩减、裁减（尤指经费或生意） ：◆ The IMF has scaled back its growth forecasts for the next decade. 国际货币基金组织已经调低对未来十年的增长预测。 rationalize ( to make changes to a business or system, in order to make it more efficient, especially by spending less moneyBrE business 商业 指对企业或制度进行合理化改革、使合理化、使有经济效益 downsize ( to make a company or an organization smaller by reducing the number of jobs in it, in order to reduce costsbusiness 商业 指公司或机构精简人员以降低成本 NOTE Downsize is often used by people who want to avoid saying more obvious words like 'dismiss' or 'make redundant' because they sound too negative.人们通常使用 downsize 以避免使用 dismiss 或 make redundant 等词义直白的词，因为这些词听起来过于负面。
Patterns
to cut/slash/cut back on/scale back/rationalize spending/production to cut/slash/cut back on jobs to cut/slash/downsize the workforce to cut/slash/rationalize the cost of sthto cut/slash prices/taxes/the budget to cut sth/slash sth/cut sth back drastically