reduce

re·duce (r

-d

, -dy

)

v. re·duced, re·duc·ing, re·duc·es

v.tr.

1. To bring down, as in extent, amount, or degree; diminish. See Synonyms at decrease.

2. To bring to a humbler, weaker, difficult, or forced state or condition; especially:

a. To gain control of; conquer: "a design to reduce them under absolute despotism" Declaration of Independence.

b. To subject to destruction: Enemy bombers reduced the city to rubble.

c. To weaken bodily: was reduced almost to emaciation.

d. To sap the spirit or mental energy of.

e. To compel to desperate acts: The Depression reduced many to begging on street corners.

f. To lower in rank or grade. See Synonyms at demote.

g. To powder or pulverize.

h. To thin (paint) with a solvent.

3. To lower the price of: The store has drastically reduced winter coats.

4. To put in order or arrange systematically.

5. To separate into orderly components by analysis.

6. Chemistry

a. To decrease the valence of (an atom) by adding electrons.

b. To remove oxygen from (a compound).

c. To add hydrogen to (a compound).

d. To change to a metallic state by removing nonmetallic constituents; smelt.

7. Mathematics To simplify the form of (an expression, such as a fraction) without changing the value.

8. Medicine To restore (a fractured or displaced body part) to a normal condition or position.

v.intr.

1. To become diminished.

2. To lose weight, as by dieting.

3. Biology To undergo meiosis.

[Middle English reducen, to bring back, from Old French reducier, from Latin redcere : re-, re- + dcere, to lead; see deuk- in Indo-European roots.]

re·ducer n.

re·duci·bili·ty n.

re·duci·ble adj.

re·duci·bly adv.

reduce

Verb

[-ducing, -duced]

1. to bring down or lower: monitoring could reduce the number of perinatal deaths

2. to weaken or lessen: vegetarian diets reduce cancer risk

3. to bring by force or necessity to some state or action: it reduced her to helpless laughter

4. to slim

5. to set out systematically as an aid to understanding: reducing the problem to three main issues

6. Cookery to thicken (a sauce) by boiling away some of its liquid

7. to impoverish: to be in reduced circumstances

8. Chem

a. to undergo a chemical reaction with hydrogen

b. to lose oxygen atoms

c. to increase the number of electrons

9. Maths to simplify the form of (an expression or equation), esp. by substitution of one term by another [Latin reducere to bring back]

reducible adj

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Verb	1.	reduce - cut down on; make a reduction in; "reduce your daily fat intake"; "The employer wants to cut back health benefits" cut down, trim back, trim down, cut, cut back, trim, bring down shorten - make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration; "He shortened his trip due to illness" spill - reduce the pressure of wind on (a sail) quench - reduce the degree of (luminescence or phosphorescence) in (excited molecules or a material) by adding a suitable substance cut - have a reducing effect; "This cuts into my earnings" retrench - make a reduction, as in one's workforce; "The company had to retrench" slash - cut drastically; "Prices were slashed" thin out - make sparse; "thin out the young plants" thin - make thin or thinner; "Thin the solution" minify, decrease, lessen - make smaller; "He decreased his staff" detract, take away - take away a part from; diminish; "His bad manners detract from his good character" deflate - reduce or cut back the amount or availability of, creating a decline in value or prices; "deflate the currency" inflate - increase the amount or availability of, creating a rise in value; "inflate the currency" downsize - reduce in size or number; "the company downsized its research staff" subtract - take off or away; "this prefix was subtracted when the word was borrowed from French" knock off, shave - cut the price of
	2.	reduce - make less complex; "reduce a problem to a single question" abbreviate - shorten; "Abbreviate `New York' and write `NY'" simplify - make simpler or easier or reduce in complexity or extent; "We had to simplify the instructions"; "this move will simplify our lives"
	3.	reduce - bring to humbler or weaker state or condition; "He reduced the population to slavery" demote, kick downstairs, relegate, bump, break - assign to a lower position; reduce in rank; "She was demoted because she always speaks up"; "He was broken down to Sergeant"
	4.	reduce - simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another math, mathematics, maths - a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement interchange, substitute, replace, exchange - put in the place of another; switch seemingly equivalent items; "the con artist replaced the original with a fake Rembrandt"; "substitute regular milk with fat-free milk"; "synonyms can be interchanged without a changing the context's meaning"
	5.	reduce - lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation; "She reduced her niece to a servant" demean, disgrace, degrade, take down, put down - reduce in worth or character, usually verbally; "She tends to put down younger women colleagues"; "His critics took him down after the lecture"
	6.	reduce - be the essential element; "The proposal boils down to a compromise" boil down, come down become, turn - undergo a change or development; "The water turned into ice"; "Her former friend became her worst enemy"; "He turned traitor"
	7.	reduce - reduce in size; reduce physically; "Hot water will shrink the sweater"; "Can you shrink this image?" shrink scale down, reduce - make smaller; "reduce an image" reef - reduce (a sail) by taking in a reef miniaturise, miniaturize - design or construct on a smaller scale minify, decrease, lessen - make smaller; "He decreased his staff" depopulate, desolate - reduce in population; "The epidemic depopulated the countryside" downsize - make in a smaller size; "the car makers downsized the SUVs when fuel became very expensive" contract - make smaller; "The heat contracted the woollen garment"
	8.	reduce - lessen and make more modest; "reduce one's standard of living" impoverish - make poor
	9.	reduce - make smaller; "reduce an image" scale down shrink, reduce - reduce in size; reduce physically; "Hot water will shrink the sweater"; "Can you shrink this image?" blow up, enlarge, magnify - make large; "blow up an image"
	10.	reduce - to remove oxygen from a compound, or cause to react with hydrogen or form a hydride, or to undergo an increase in the number of electrons deoxidise, deoxidize chemical science, chemistry - the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions change - undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night" benficiate - subject to a reduction process; "benficiate ores" pole - deoxidize molten metals by stirring them with a wooden pole
	11.	reduce - narrow or limit; "reduce the influx of foreigners" tighten confine, limit, throttle, trammel, restrain, restrict, bound - place limits on (extent or access); "restrict the use of this parking lot"; "limit the time you can spend with your friends"
	12.	reduce - put down by force or intimidation; "The government quashes any attempt of an uprising"; "China keeps down her dissidents very efficiently"; "The rich landowners subjugated the peasants working the land" quash, repress, subdue, subjugate, keep down crush, oppress, suppress - come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority; "The government oppresses political activists"
	13.	reduce - undergo meiosis; "The cells reduce" divide, part, separate - come apart; "The two pieces that we had glued separated"
	14.	reduce - reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site reposition - place into another position
	15.	reduce - destress and thus weaken a sound when pronouncing it linguistics - the scientific study of language de-emphasise, de-emphasize, destress - reduce the emphasis obscure - reduce a vowel to a neutral one, such as a schwa
	16.	reduce - reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened" abbreviate, abridge, foreshorten, shorten, contract, cut bowdlerise, bowdlerize, expurgate, castrate, shorten - edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate; "bowdlerize a novel" edit out, edit, cut - cut and assemble the components of; "edit film"; "cut recording tape" condense, concentrate, digest - make more concise; "condense the contents of a book into a summary" minify, decrease, lessen - make smaller; "He decreased his staff"
	17.	reduce - be cooked until very little liquid is left; "The sauce should reduce to one cup" boil down, decoct, concentrate cookery, cooking, preparation - the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat; "cooking can be a great art"; "people are needed who have experience in cookery"; "he left the preparation of meals to his wife" decrease, diminish, lessen, fall - decrease in size, extent, or range; "The amount of homework decreased towards the end of the semester"; "The cabin pressure fell dramatically"; "her weight fell to under a hundred pounds"; "his voice fell to a whisper"
	18.	reduce - cook until very little liquid is left; "The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time" boil down, concentrate cookery, cooking, preparation - the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat; "cooking can be a great art"; "people are needed who have experience in cookery"; "he left the preparation of meals to his wife" minify, decrease, lessen - make smaller; "He decreased his staff"
	19.	reduce - lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture; "cut bourbon" dilute, thin, thin out, cut weaken - lessen the strength of; "The fever weakened his body" water down - make less strong or intense; "water down the mixture"
	20.	reduce - take off weight lose weight, melt off, slim, slim down, slenderize, thin sweat off - lose weight by sweating; "I sweated off 3 pounds in the sauna" change state, turn - undergo a transformation or a change of position or action; "We turned from Socialism to Capitalism"; "The people turned against the President when he stole the election" gain, put on - increase (one's body weight); "She gained 20 pounds when she stopped exercising"

reduce

verb 1. lessen, cut, contract, lower, depress, moderate, weaken, diminish, turn down, decrease, slow down, cut down, shorten, dilute, impair, curtail, wind down, abate, tone down, debase, truncate, abridge, downsize, kennet Austral. (slang) jeff Austral. (slang) << OPPOSITE increase

verb 2. degrade, downgrade, demote, lower in rank, break, humble, humiliate, bring low, take down a peg (informal) lower the status of << OPPOSITE promote

verb 3. drive, force, bring, bring to the point of

verb 4. cheapen, cut, lower, discount, slash, mark down, bring down the price of

verb 5. impoverish, ruin, bankrupt, pauperize impoverished, broke (informal) badly off, hard up (informal) short, in need, needy, on the rocks, penniless, destitute, poverty-stricken, down and out, skint Brit. (slang) in want, indigent, down at heel, impecunious, dirt-poor (informal) on the breadline, flat broke (informal) penurious, on your uppers, stony-broke Brit. (slang) necessitous, in queer street, without two pennies to rub together (informal) on your beam-ends

Translations