synchronize
To cause digital files, folders, or databases to be identical and up-to-date across multiple devices or locations.
Synchronize implies a two-way, continuous alignment of data. If you edit a file on your phone, the changes automatically appear on your laptop.
Word relationships
- align: Align means to bring things into agreement or correct relative position, but synchronize specifically means making them identical in content and timing.
- harmonize: Harmonize is used more in aesthetic, musical, or interpersonal contexts, whereas synchronize is technical and time-based.
- desynchronize: To cause things to no longer occur or exist at the same time or to lose their identical state.
Commonly confused with
- backup: Synchronizing keeps two locations identical in real-time (if you delete a file in one, it deletes in the other), whereas a backup is a static historical copy designed to preserve files even if they are deleted from the source.
Word family
- synchronization (noun): The process of causing things to occur or exist at the same time.
- synchronous (adjective): Existing or occurring at the same time.
Collocations
- automatically synchronize
- synchronize devices
- synchronize folders
- synchronize data
Example sentences
- "The application will automatically synchronize your local documents with the cloud repository whenever you connect to the internet." Describing how modern cloud storage services operate.
- "We need to synchronize our local code repositories before merging the final software update." A team coordination scenario in software development.
Memory hook
Focus on the 'chron' part of the word, which means time (like a chronicle or chronology). To synchronize is to bring files together in time. Sync your files to keep them in time.
When not to use
Do not use synchronize when you are simply copying a file from one place to another once without any future alignment (use upload or copy instead).
Fun facts
- The abbreviation 'sync' (or 'synch') is so common in tech that many users do not realize it is short for synchronize, which has been used in filmmaking since the 1920s to align audio tracks with moving pictures.
Related words
Explore more words
synchronization, Synchronous, simultaneous, coordinate, unison, synchronised
Also appears in
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