What does resize mean?
Resize means to change the dimensions or extent of something. The word is especially common in digital and technical contexts, where it refers to making an image, document, video, window, or display larger or smaller. It can also describe changing the amount of space occupied by a physical object or area, such as a building or piece of furniture. As a transitive verb, resize takes the object being changed as its object: “The editor resized the photograph.” In some contexts, especially computing, the subject can resize by itself: “The window resizes when the user changes the screen orientation.” The word is straightforward and practical, combining the prefix re-, suggesting a repeated or additional adjustment, with size, indicating the quality or dimension being altered. Although it can sound technical in software or design discussions, it is also widely used in ordinary descriptions of objects and spaces.
verbTo change the size of something, especially an image, document, room, or other object. It can also mean to change one's own dimensions or extent.
- To change the size of an image, document, object, or space.
- To change dimensions or extent, especially of an image or digital display.
"The designer resized the banner to fit the webpage."
"She resized the photograph before uploading it."
"The window resizes automatically when you drag its corner."
"The company resized its warehouse to accommodate more stock."
From resizing a social-media image to rearranging the furniture of a new home, resize captures the practical act of making something fit a different space.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does resize come from?
Resize is an English formation made from the prefix re-, meaning again, and the noun size. The sense of changing dimensions developed through the combination of these elements and is now especially associated with digital media and computing. Size itself has roots in Old French and ultimately Latin vocabulary concerned with dimension or extent.
Related word forms
How resize is actually used
Common in computing, design, publishing, and everyday descriptions of altering dimensions. In technical contexts, it often refers specifically to changing an image's pixel dimensions or a window's size.
Easily confused with resize
To resize is to change the dimensions of something, whereas to reprise is to repeat or perform again.