scale in
C1 neutral inseparable intransitive
In simple words
To slowly make something smaller by taking away parts little by little.
Literal meaning: To move inward along a scale, reducing step by step.
Meanings
1 C1
idiomatic
neutral
(Finance) To gradually reduce the size of an investment position by selling in stages rather than all at once.
"As the stock price fell, she decided to scale in rather than exit her entire position immediately."
Grammar: inseparable
2 C1
idiomatic
neutral
(IT/Cloud computing) To reduce the number of active servers or computing resources in response to decreased demand.
"The system will automatically scale in during off-peak hours to save costs."
Grammar: inseparable
Usage notes
Used predominantly in finance (reducing an investment position gradually) and cloud computing/IT infrastructure (reducing server instances). Rarely used in everyday conversation.
Commonly used with
position servers resources investment instances capacity
Forms
Base
scale in
I/you/we/they
3rd person
scales in
he/she/it
Past simple
scaled in
yesterday
Past participle
scaled in
have + pp
-ing form
scaling in
continuous
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