Meaning & use
optimum
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounformal
Giving the best possible result in the circumstances.
Grammar: Comes before a noun: the optimum temperature, not a temperature that is optimum.
Patterns
- the optimum level
- optimum conditions
Tomatoes grow best at the optimum temperature of about twenty-five degrees.
We waited for the optimum moment to launch the product.
The factory is running at optimum capacity.
nounsingularformal
The point, level or amount at which something works best.
Grammar: Usually singular with the: they reached the optimum.
Patterns
- the optimum of something
- reach the optimum
Farmers try to find the optimum between yield and cost.
The experiment aimed to find the optimum for the enzyme's activity.
Stress can help performance, but past the optimum it does harm.
Word forms
| plural | optima |
|---|---|
| plural | optimums |
Common combinations
- optimum temperature
- Yeast works best at its optimum temperature.
- optimum level
- Keep the humidity at the optimum level for the plants.
- optimum performance
- Good sleep is vital for optimum performance.
- optimum conditions
- Under optimum conditions, the seeds sprout in days.
- optimum time
- Early morning is the optimum time to water the lawn.
Synonyms and how they differ
- optimal
- Optimal means exactly the same in most uses and is slightly more common in technical and scientific writing.
- ideal
- Ideal means perfect or imagined as perfect, while optimum means best among real, possible choices.
- best
- Best is the plain everyday word, and optimum sounds scientific or technical.
- peak
- Peak refers to the highest point reached, whereas optimum is the most favorable point, which is not always the highest.
Opposites
Word family
- optimal adjective
- best or most favorable
- optimize verb
- to make something as effective as possible
- optimization noun
- the process of making something as good as possible
- optimally adverb
- in the best possible way
- suboptimal adjective
- less than the best
Commonly confused: optimum or optional? optimum or optimism?
optimum vs optional
Optional means you may choose it or not. Optimum means the best, so an optional extra is not necessarily the optimum choice.
optimum vs optimism
Optimism is the hopeful belief that things will turn out well, and it shares the root opt-, meaning best.
Practice
The gardener checked the soil to find the ____ level of moisture for the young plants.
Choose one answer.
Optimum level means the best level for plants to thrive. Optional means a matter of choice, which sounds similar but does not fit here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “optimum”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.