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In architecture and engineering, design professionals may use the term “optimization” to describe a range of design approaches. These working definitions of optimization may not align with one another, or with the formal definition of mathematical optimization in engineering education. This paper presents a thematic analysis of 13 interviews with design professionals who use optimization in their work. Using the communication theory of coordinated management of meaning (CMM) to understand how the interviewer and interviewee were negotiating possible definitions, four themes are identified: optimization as performance improvement, as achieving varied goals, as a systematic process, and as a formal problem structure with variables and objectives, which is most aligned with the mathematical definition. Interviewees used these varied definitions dynamically in conversation, which informs researchers and educators about their potential use in practice.