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.