reduce

present singular third person reduces · participle present reducing · participle past reduced · past reduced

1. transitiveTo bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower.

   to reduce weight, speed, heat, expenses, price, personnel etc.

   3 more examples

   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.

   2012 January 28, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2013, page 60

   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.

   2022 January 12, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Emergency timetables as absences surge due to COVID”, in RAIL, number 948, page 6

   Drivers like the idea of increasing traffic flow and reducing congestion on the portion of I-80 between Davis and West Sacramento.

   2024 May 17, Orko Manna, “Toll lane project on Interstate 80 between West Sacramento and Davis gets green light”, in KCRA, archived from the original on 22 May 2024

   Synonyms: cut, decrease, lower, abase, abate, belittle, besmall, bring down · Antonyms: enlarge, increase, add, amplify, augment, dilate, eke / eke out, elevate

2. intransitiveTo lose weight.
3. transitiveTo bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.

   to reduce a sergeant to the ranks

   5 more examples

   My father, the eldest son of an ancient but reduced family, left me with little.

   1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC

   nothing so excellent but a man may falten upon something or other belonging to it whereby to reduce it .

   1671, John Tillotson, “Sermon II. The Folly of Scoffing at Religion. 2 Pet[er] III. 3.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: […], London: […] B. Aylmer, […]; [a]nd W. Rogers, […], published 1696, →OCLC

   Having reduced their foe to misery beneath their fears.

   1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC

   Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced.

   1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 13, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC

   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."

   1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii

   Synonyms: disparage, humble, relegate, sink, abase, bring down to size, cut down to size, debase

4. transitiveTo humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.

   to reduce a province or a fort

   Synonyms: overcome, surmount, vanquish, beat, bring down, convince, chew up, eat someone for breakfast

5. transitiveTo bring to an inferior state or condition.

   to reduce a city to ashes

6. transitiveTo be forced by circumstances (into something one considers unworthy).

   reduced to silence

   1 more example

   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.")

   1983 December 31, “What a Drag”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 24, page 9

7. transitivecookingTo decrease the liquid content of (a food) by boiling much of its water off.

   Serve the oxtails with mustard or a sauce made by reducing the soup, if any is left, to a slightly thick sauce.

   2011, Edward Behr, James MacGuire, The Art of Eating Cookbook: Essential Recipes from the First 25 Years.

   Synonyms: inspissate, condense, engross, incrassate, inspissate, thick, thicken

8. transitivechemistryTo add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.

   Formaldehyde can be reduced to form methanol.

9. transitiveengineeringTo produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
10. transitivemathematicsTo simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
11. transitivecomputerTo express the solution of a problem in terms of another (known) algorithm.
12. transitivehuman sciencesTo convert a syllogism to a clearer or simpler form.
13. transitivelawTo convert to written form. (Usage note: this verb almost always appears as "reduce to writing".)

    It is important that all business contracts be reduced to writing.

14. transitivemedicineTo perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
15. transitivegovernmentTo reform a line or column from (a square).
16. transitivegovernmentTo strike off the payroll.
17. transitiveScots lawTo annul by legal means.
18. transitivehuman sciencesTo pronounce (a sound or word) with less effort.

    The first vowel of support is reduced to schwa by most English speakers.

19. obsoletetransitiveTo translate (a book, document, etc.).

    a book reduced into English