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fi·nal·ize (fīnə-līz′)
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tr.v. fi·nal·ized, fi·nal·iz·ing, fi·nal·iz·es
To put into final form; complete.
fi′nal·i·zation (-lĭ-zāshən) n.
final·iz′er n.
Usage Note: Decades ago, finalize was widely considered objectionable because of its association with bureaucratic jargon. In a survey conducted in the late 1960s, 90 percent of the Usage Panel found the example finalize plans for a class reunion to be unacceptable; by 1988, the disapproval rate for a similar sentence had dropped to 71 percent. By 1997, only 28 percent objected to the sentence We will send you more information once we finalize plans for the reunion, and the disapproval rate was a mere 15 percent in 2014. Perhaps resistance to finalize has eroded because there is no exact synonym among potential substitutes (complete, conclude, make final, put into final form). Whatever the reason, today the use of finalize is rarely controversial. See Usage Note at prioritize.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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