Reduce
verb ·Very common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower. transitive
"to reduce weight, speed, heat, expenses, price, personnel etc."
- 2 take off weight wordnet
- 3 To lose weight. intransitive
- 4 lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture wordnet
- 5 To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote. transitive
"to reduce a sergeant to the ranks"
Show 34 more definitions
- 6 narrow or limit wordnet
- 7 To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture. transitive
"to reduce a province or a fort"
- 8 cook until very little liquid is left wordnet
- 9 To bring to an inferior state or condition. transitive
"to reduce a city to ashes"
- 10 be cooked until very little liquid is left wordnet
- 11 To be forced by circumstances (into something one considers unworthy). transitive
"reduced to silence"
- 12 be the essential element wordnet
- 13 To decrease the liquid content of (a food) by boiling much of its water off. transitive
"Serve the oxtails with mustard or a sauce made by reducing the soup, if any is left, to a slightly thick sauce."
- 14 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 wordnet
- 15 To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen. transitive
"Formaldehyde can be reduced to form methanol."
- 16 make smaller wordnet
- 17 To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter. transitive
- 18 reduce in size; reduce physically wordnet
- 19 To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value. transitive
- 20 make less complex wordnet
- 21 To express the solution of a problem in terms of another (known) algorithm. transitive
- 22 reduce in scope while retaining essential elements wordnet
- 23 To convert a syllogism to a clearer or simpler form. transitive
- 24 cut down on; make a reduction in wordnet
- 25 To convert to written form. (Usage note: this verb almost always appears as "reduce to writing".) transitive
"It is important that all business contracts be reduced to writing."
- 26 destress and thus weaken a sound when pronouncing it wordnet
- 27 To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment. transitive
- 28 reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site wordnet
- 29 To reform a line or column from (a square). transitive
- 30 undergo meiosis wordnet
- 31 To strike off the payroll. transitive
- 32 lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation wordnet
- 33 To annul by legal means. transitive
- 34 simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another wordnet
- 35 To pronounce (a sound or word) with less effort. transitive
"The first vowel of support is reduced to schwa by most English speakers."
- 36 lessen and make more modest wordnet
- 37 To translate (a book, document, etc.). obsolete, transitive
"a book reduced into English"
- 38 bring to humbler or weaker state or condition wordnet
- 39 put down by force or intimidation wordnet
Example
More examples"We have considered your proposal, and we have decided that we are not able to reduce the price."
Etymology
From Middle English reducen, from Old French reduire, from Latin redūcō (“reduce”); from re- (“back”) + dūcō (“lead”). See duke, and compare with redoubt.
Related phrases
More for "reduce"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.