Dictionaries › English

reduce

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈd͡ʒuːs/

The English word “reduce” has 19 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower.
  2. To lose weight.
  3. To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
  4. To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.
  5. To bring to an inferior state or condition.
  6. To be forced by circumstances (into something one considers unworthy).
  7. To decrease the liquid content of (a food) by boiling much of its water off.
  8. To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.
  9. To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
  10. To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
  11. To express the solution of a problem in terms of another (known) algorithm.
  12. To convert a syllogism to a clearer or simpler form.
  13. To convert to written form. (Usage note: this verb almost always appears as “reduce to writing”.)
  14. To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
  15. To reform a line or column from (a square).
  16. To strike off the payroll.
  17. To annul by legal means.
  18. To pronounce (a sound or word) with less effort.
  19. To translate (a book, document, etc.).

Etymology

From Middle English reducen, from Old French reduire, from Latin redūcō (“reduce”); from re- (“back”) + dūcō (“lead”). See duke, and compare with redoubt.

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “reduce” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.