reduce
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: chemistry
computer
computing
cooking
engineering
food
government
human-sciences
law
lifestyle
linguistics
logic
mathematics
medicine
metallurgy
military
natural-sciences
philosophy
phonetics
phonology
physical-sciences
politics
science
sciences
war
Etymology: From Middle English reducen, from Old French reduire, from Latin redūcō (“reduce”); from re- (“back”) + dūcō (“lead”). See duke, and compare with redoubt.
Inflected forms:
form: reduces
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: reducing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: reduced
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: reduced
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to reduce weight, speed, heat, expenses, price, personnel etc.
Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.
Most train operators have reduced services with emergency timetables, as they struggle to cope with a rapid increase in staff absences due to the Omicron variant of COVID.
Drivers like the idea of increasing traffic flow and reducing congestion on the portion of I-80 between Davis and West Sacramento.
gloss: To lose weight.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to reduce a sergeant to the ranks
My father, the eldest son of an ancient but reduced family, left me with little.
nothing so excellent but a man may falten upon something or other belonging to it whereby to reduce it .
Having reduced their foe to misery beneath their fears.
Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced.
Neither [Jones][…] nor I (in 1966) could conceive of reducing our "science" to the ultimate absurdity of reading Finnish newspapers almost a century and a half old in order to establish "priority."
gloss: To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to reduce a province or a fort
gloss: To bring to an inferior state or condition.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to reduce a city to ashes
gloss: To be forced by circumstances (into something one considers unworthy).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: reduced to silence
The press release calls him "the hottest female impressionist in show business today." (One wonders how many more words press agents will have to come up with before they are reduced to actually saying "drag queen.")
gloss: To decrease the liquid content of (a food) by boiling much of its water off.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Serve the oxtails with mustard or a sauce made by reducing the soup, if any is left, to a slightly thick sauce.
gloss: To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Formaldehyde can be reduced to form methanol.
gloss: To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To express the solution of a problem in terms of another (known) algorithm.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To convert a syllogism to a clearer or simpler form.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To convert to written form. (Usage note: this verb almost always appears as "reduce to writing".)
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: It is important that all business contracts be reduced to writing.
gloss: To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To reform a line or column from (a square).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To strike off the payroll.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To annul by legal means.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To pronounce (a sound or word) with less effort.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The first vowel of support is reduced to schwa by most English speakers.
gloss: To translate (a book, document, etc.).
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: a book reduced into English
Related words: reducible
reductase
reduction
reductive
reducing agent
Derived words: beta reduce
bioreduce
cytoreduce
deuteroreduce
photoreduce
reducement
reducer
reduce someone to tears
reducetarian
reducing agent
reducing flame
reducing scale
reducing sugar
reductant
rereduce
Translations: