Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To cause to occur or operate with exact coincidence in time or rate.
  • intransitive verb To cause to occur or operate at the same time as something else.
  • intransitive verb To represent (events) as occurring at the same time or in the same time period.
  • intransitive verb To arrange (a video or soundtrack, for example) to play or operate in synchronization with something else.
  • intransitive verb To transfer data between (two devices) to ensure that the same data is stored on both.
  • intransitive verb To execute such a transfer to cause the content of (two or more files or other sets of data) to be identical.
  • intransitive verb To occur at the same time; be simultaneous.
  • intransitive verb To operate in unison.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To occur at the same time; agree in time.
  • To cause to be synchronous; make to agree in time of occurrence.
  • To cause to indicate the same time, as one timepiece with another; regulate or control, as a clock, by a standard timepiece, such as the chief clock in an observatory.
  • Also spelled synchronise.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To assign to the same date or period of time.
  • transitive verb To cause to agree in time
  • intransitive verb To agree in time; to be simultaneous.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To cause two or more events to happen at exactly the same time, at the same rate, or in a time-coordinated way. To harmonize in regard to time.
  • verb intransitive To occur at the same time or with coordinated timing.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make synchronous and adjust in time or manner
  • verb operate simultaneously
  • verb happen at the same time
  • verb make (motion picture sound) exactly simultaneous with the action
  • verb arrange or represent events so that they co-occur
  • verb cause to indicate the same time or rate

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek sunkhronizein, to be contemporary, from sunkhronos, contemporaneous; see synchronous.]

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Examples

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  • The marketing propaganda said that the device was supposed to promote relaxation and "synchronize" one's brain waves, whatever that meant.

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  • "Council of Governors" to help "synchronize" policy regarding foreign and domestic military operations doesn't merely add another redundant layer of bureaucracy to the overgrown Homeland Security apparatus.

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  • The Guardian article, on the other hand, wrote "synchronize".

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  • January 11 executive order creating a "Council of Governors" to help "synchronize" policy regarding foreign and domestic military operations doesn't merely add another redundant layer of bureaucracy to the overgrown Homeland Security apparatus.

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  • An automatic option to "synchronize" with a remote host, and make both sides the same, would be very welcome.

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  • An automatic option to "synchronize" with a remote host, and make both sides the same, would be very welcome.

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