The finance team asked us to ___ cloud cost this quarter.
To optimise cost means to reduce spending while keeping the service healthy. It is the dominant FinOps collocation: "cost optimisation", "optimise our cloud spend". "Better", "lower down", and "shrink up" are not idiomatic. Optimise pairs with cost, spend, and usage, and implies a deliberate, ongoing effort rather than a one-time cut.
2 / 5
These instances are oversized; we should ___ them.
To right-size resources means to match their capacity to actual demand, neither over- nor under-provisioning. It is a well-known cost collocation: "right-size the instances". "Fit-size", "true-size", and "fix-size" are not real terms. Right-size is central to cloud cost work and pairs with instances, clusters, and workloads.
3 / 5
To get a discount on steady workloads we can ___ capacity in advance.
To reserve capacity means to commit to usage ahead of time in exchange for lower prices (reserved instances or savings plans). It is the standard phrase: "reserve capacity for the database tier". "Book", "hold back", and "save up" are not the cloud term. Reserve pairs with capacity and instances and signals a commitment-based discount strategy.
4 / 5
During off-hours we can ___ the staging environment to save money.
To spin down resources means to stop or scale them to zero when they are not needed. It is the natural pair to "spin up": "spin down dev environments overnight". "Turn off down", "wind off", and "shut over" are not idiomatic. Spin down is a key cost-saving collocation for non-production and elastic workloads.
5 / 5
We must ___ every resource so we can attribute spend to teams.
To tag resources means to attach metadata labels (such as team or project) so costs can be tracked and allocated. It is the established collocation: "tag resources for cost allocation". "Label out", "mark up", and "stamp" are not the cloud term. Tag pairs with resources and is the foundation of cost reporting and governance.