Definition of reduce Reduce

/ɹʌduˈs/ - [rudus] - re•duce

We found 46 definitions of reduce from 7 different sources.

What does reduce mean?

WordNet

Verb reduces, reducing, reduced
reduce - cut down on; make a reduction in; "reduce your daily fat intake"; "The employer wants to cut back health benefits"
		cut down, cut back, trim, trim down, trim back, cut, bring down
		minify, decrease, lessen 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"
		shorten become short or shorter; "In winter, the days shorten"
		spill reduce the pressure of wind on (a sail)
		quench cool (hot metal) by plunging into cold water or other liquid; "quench steel"
		cut grow through the gums; "The new tooth is cutting"
		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"
		detract, take away take out or remove; "take out the chicken after adding the vegetables"
		deflate become deflated or flaccid, as by losing air; "The balloons deflated"
		inflate fill with gas or air; "inflate a balloons"
		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 remove body hair with a razor
reduce - cook until very little liquid is left; "The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time"
		boil down, concentrate
		minify, decrease, lessen 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"
		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"
reduce - take off weight
		melt off, lose weight, slim, slenderize, thin, slim down
		gain, put on increase (one's body weight); "She gained 20 pounds when she stopped exercising"
		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"
		sweat off lose weight by sweating; "I sweated off 3 pounds in the sauna"
reduce - make smaller; "reduce an image"
		scale down
		magnify, enlarge, blow up increase in size, volume or significance; "Her terror was magnified in her mind"
		shrink, reduce decrease in size, range, or extent; "His earnings shrank"; "My courage shrivelled when I saw the task before me"
reduce - make less complex; "reduce a problem to a single question"
		simplify make simpler or easier or reduce in complexity or extent; "We had to simplify the instructions"; "this move will simplify our lives"
		abbreviate shorten; "Abbreviate `New York' and write `NY'"
reduce - destress and thus weaken a sound when pronouncing it
		de-emphasise, de-emphasize, destress reduce the emphasis
		linguistics the humanistic study of language and literature
		obscure make obscure or unclear; "The distinction was obscured"
reduce - simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another
		substitute, interchange, 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"
		math, mathematics, maths a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement
reduce - be the essential element; "The proposal boils down to a compromise"
		come down, boil down
		become, turn enter or assume a certain state or condition; "He became annoyed when he heard the bad news"; "It must be getting more serious"; "her face went red with anger"; "She went into ecstasy"; "Get going!"
reduce - narrow or limit; "reduce the influx of foreigners"
		tighten
		trammel, limit, throttle, bound, restrict, restrain, confine restrict or confine, "I limit you to two visits to the pub a day"
reduce - reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site
		reposition place into another position
reduce - undergo meiosis; "The cells reduce"
		part, divide, separate perform a division; "Can you divide 49 by seven?"
reduce - lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation; "She reduced her niece to a servant"
		demean, degrade, disgrace, take down, put down lower the grade of something; reduce its worth
reduce - lessen and make more modest; "reduce one's standard of living"
		impoverish make poor
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"
reduce - reduce in size; reduce physically; "Hot water will shrink the sweater"; "Can you shrink this image?"
		shrink
		minify, decrease, lessen 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"
		scale down, reduce reduce proportionally; "The model is scaled down"
		reef reduce (a sail) by taking in a reef
		miniaturise, miniaturize design or construct on a smaller scale
		depopulate, desolate reduce in population; "The epidemic depopulated the countryside"
		downsize reduce in size or number; "the company downsized its research staff"
		contract be stricken by an illness, fall victim to an illness; "He got AIDS"; "She came down with pneumonia"; "She took a chill"
reduce - reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened"
		abridge, foreshorten, abbreviate, shorten, cut, contract
		expatiate, lucubrate, dilate, exposit, expound, flesh out, elaborate, enlarge, expand become wider; "His pupils were dilated"
		minify, decrease, lessen 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"
		bowdlerise, bowdlerize, expurgate, castrate, shorten edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate; "bowdlerize a novel"
		edit out, edit, cut prepare for publication or presentation by correcting, revising, or adapting; "Edit a book on lexical semantics"; "she edited the letters of the politician so as to omit the most personal passages"
		condense, concentrate, digest undergo condensation; change from a gaseous to a liquid state and fall in drops; "water condenses"; "The acid distills at a specific temperature"
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
		deoxidize, deoxidise
		oxidate, oxidise, oxidize enter into a combination with oxygen or become converted into an oxide; "This metal oxidizes easily"
		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"
		chemical science, chemistry the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions
		benficiate subject to a reduction process; "benficiate ores"
		pole deoxidize molten metals by stirring them with a wooden pole
reduce - lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture; "cut bourbon"
		dilute, thin, thin out, cut
		weaken become weaker; "The prisoner's resistance weakened after seven days"
		water down thin by adding water to; "They watered down the moonshine"
reduce - be cooked until very little liquid is left; "The sauce should reduce to one cup"
		boil down, decoct, concentrate
		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"
		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"
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"
		repress, quash, keep down, subdue, subjugate
		oppress, suppress, crush come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority; "The government oppresses political activists"

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Wiktionary

reduce (Verb)
To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower, to impair.
reduce (Verb)
To lose weight.
reduce (Verb)
To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
reduce (Verb)
To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.
reduce (Verb)
To bring to an inferior state or condition.
reduce (Verb)
To decrease the liquid content of food by boiling much of its water off.
reduce (Verb)
To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.
reduce (Verb)
To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
reduce (Verb)
To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
reduce (Verb)
To convert to written form Usage note: this verb almost always take the phrase "to writing".
reduce (Verb)
To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.

Webster DictionaryWebster's Unabridged Dictionary 📘

reduce (n.)
To bring or lead back to any former place or condition.
reduce (n.)
To bring to any inferior state, with respect to rank, size, quantity, quality, value, etc.; to diminish; to lower; to degrade; to impair; as, to reduce a sergeant to the ranks; to reduce a drawing; to reduce expenses; to reduce the intensity of heat.
reduce (n.)
To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture; as, to reduce a province or a fort.
reduce (n.)
To bring to a certain state or condition by grinding, pounding, kneading, rubbing, etc.; as, to reduce a substance to powder, or to a pasty mass; to reduce fruit, wood, or paper rags, to pulp.
reduce (n.)
To bring into a certain order, arrangement, classification, etc.; to bring under rules or within certain limits of descriptions and terms adapted to use in computation; as, to reduce animals or vegetables to a class or classes; to reduce a series of observations in astronomy; to reduce language to rules.
reduce (n.)
To change, as numbers, from one denomination into another without altering their value, or from one denomination into others of the same value; as, to reduce pounds, shillings, and pence to pence, or to reduce pence to pounds; to reduce days and hours to minutes, or minutes to days and hours.
reduce (n.)
To change the form of a quantity or expression without altering its value; as, to reduce fractions to their lowest terms, to a common denominator, etc.
reduce (n.)
To bring to the metallic state by separating from impurities; hence, in general, to remove oxygen from; to deoxidize; to combine with, or to subject to the action of, hydrogen; as, ferric iron is reduced to ferrous iron; or metals are reduced from their ores; -- opposed to oxidize.
reduce (n.)
To restore to its proper place or condition, as a displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a fracture, or a hernia.

OmegaWiki DictionaryOmegaWiki Dictionary Ω

reduce
To thicken a liquid mixture such as a sauce by evaporation.
reduce
To cut down on; to make a reduction in (especially costs, jobs, e.g. with financial and administrative acts).
reduce
Euphemism for "reduce", "make worse, smaller or less", "give up".

Chambers DictionaryChamber's 20th Century Dictionary 📕

reduce
rē-dūs′, v.t. to bring into a lower state, as to reduce the ores of silver: to lessen: to impoverish: to subdue: to arrange: (arith. and alg.) to change numbers or quantities from one denomination into another: to reduce to its proper form, as to reduce a fracture: to bring into a new form, as to reduce Latin to English: to weaken: to bring into a class: (Scots law) to annul by legal means: (mil.) to strike off the pay-roll.—ns. Reduc′er, one who reduces: a joint-piece for connecting pipes of varying diameter; Reducibil′ity, Reduc′ibleness, the quality of being reducible.—adj. Reduc′ible, that may be reduced.—ns. Reduc′ing-scale, a scale used by surveyors for reducing chains and links to acres and roods; Reduc′tion, act of reducing or state of being reduced: diminution: subjugation: a rule for changing numbers or quantities from one denomination to another.—adj. Reduc′tive, having the power to reduce.—Reduce to the ranks, to degrade, for misconduct, to the condition of a private soldier; Reductio ad absurdum, the proof of a proposition by proving the falsity of its contradictory opposite; Reduction works, smelting works. [L. reducĕre, reductum—re-, back, ducĕre, to lead.]

Sailor's Word-BookThe Sailor's Word-Book ⛵

reduce
To degrade to a lower rank; or to shorten the allowance of water or provisions.

Part of speech

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reduce, verb, present, 1st person singular of reduce (infinitive).
reduce, verb (infinitive).

Pronunciation

Word frequency

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Sign Language

reduce in sign language