'Reduce' definitions:
Definition of 'reduce'
From: WordNet
verb
Cut down on; make a reduction in; "reduce your daily fat intake"; "The employer wants to cut back health benefits" [syn: reduce, cut down, cut back, trim, trim down, trim back, cut, bring down]
verb
Make less complex; "reduce a problem to a single question"
verb
Bring to humbler or weaker state or condition; "He reduced the population to slavery"
verb
Simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another
verb
Lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation; "She reduced her niece to a servant"
verb
Be the essential element; "The proposal boils down to a compromise" [syn: reduce, come down, boil down]
verb
Reduce in size; reduce physically; "Hot water will shrink the sweater"; "Can you shrink this image?" [syn: shrink, reduce]
verb
Lessen and make more modest; "reduce one's standard of living"
verb
verb
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 [syn: deoxidize, deoxidise, reduce] [ant: oxidate, oxidise, oxidize]
verb
Narrow or limit; "reduce the influx of foreigners" [syn: reduce, tighten]
verb
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" [syn: repress, quash, keep down, subdue, subjugate, reduce]
verb
Undergo meiosis; "The cells reduce"
verb
Reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site
verb
Destress and thus weaken a sound when pronouncing it
verb
Reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened" [syn: abridge, foreshorten, abbreviate, shorten, cut, contract, reduce] [ant: dilate, elaborate, enlarge, expand, expatiate, exposit, expound, flesh out, lucubrate]
verb
Be cooked until very little liquid is left; "The sauce should reduce to one cup" [syn: boil down, reduce, decoct, concentrate]
verb
Cook until very little liquid is left; "The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time" [syn: reduce, boil down, concentrate]
verb
Lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture; "cut bourbon" [syn: dilute, thin, thin out, reduce, cut]
verb
Take off weight [syn: reduce, melt off, lose weight, slim, slenderize, thin, slim down] [ant: gain, put on]
Definition of 'Reduce'
From: GCIDE
- Reduce \Re*duce"\ (r[-e]*d[=u]s"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reduced (-d[=u]st"),; p. pr. & vb. n. Reducing (-d[=u]"s[i^]ng).] [L. reducere, reductum; pref. red-. re-, re- + ducere to lead. See Duke, and cf. Redoubt, n.]
- 1. To bring or lead back to any former place or condition. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- And to his brother's house reduced his wife. --Chapman. [1913 Webster]
- The sheep must of necessity be scattered, unless the great Shephered of souls oppose, or some of his delegates reduce and direct us. --Evelyn. [1913 Webster]
- 2. 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. "An ancient but reduced family." --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]
- Nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon something belonging to it, to reduce it. --Tillotson. [1913 Webster]
- Having reduced Their foe to misery beneath their fears. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced. --Hawthorne. [1913 Webster]
- 3. To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture; as, to reduce a province or a fort. [1913 Webster]
- 4. 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. [1913 Webster]
- It were but right And equal to reduce me to my dust. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 5. 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. [1913 Webster]
- 6. (Arith.) (a) 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. (b) 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. [1913 Webster]
- 7. (Chem.) To add an electron to an atom or ion. Specifically: To remove oxygen from; to deoxidize. (Metallurgy) To bring to the metallic state by separating from combined oxygen and impurities; as, metals are reduced from their ores. (Chem.) To combine with, or to subject to the action of, hydrogen or any other reducing agent; as, ferric iron is reduced to ferrous iron; aldehydes can be reduced to alcohols by lithium hydride; -- opposed to oxidize. [1913 Webster +PJC]
- 8. (Med.) To restore to its proper place or condition, as a displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a fracture, or a hernia. [1913 Webster]
- Reduced iron (Chem.), metallic iron obtained through deoxidation of an oxide of iron by exposure to a current of hydrogen or other reducing agent. When hydrogen is used the product is called also iron by hydrogen.
- To reduce an equation (Alg.), to bring the unknown quantity by itself on one side, and all the known quantities on the other side, without destroying the equation.
- To reduce an expression (Alg.), to obtain an equivalent expression of simpler form.
- To reduce a square (Mil.), to reform the line or column from the square. [1913 Webster]
- Syn: To diminish; lessen; decrease; abate; shorten; curtail; impair; lower; subject; subdue; subjugate; conquer. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'reduce'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abase,
- abash,
- abate,
- abbreviate,
- abrade,
- abridge,
- abstract,
- acetify,
- acidify,
- acidulate,
- adjust,
- adjust to,
- adulterate,
- afflict,
- alkalify,
- alkalize,
- allay,
- alleviate,
- allow,
- alter,
- analyze,
- anatomize,
- anesthetize,
- appease,
- apportion,
- assay,
- assimilate to,
- assuage,
- attemper,
- attenuate,
- bank the fire,
- bankrupt,
- baptize,
- bate,
- bear down,
- beat down,
- become,
- beggar,
- belittle,
- bend,
- benumb,
- blunt,
- bob,
- boil down,
- borate,
- box in,
- break,
- break down,
- break up,
- bring down,
- bring low,
- bring to,
- bring to terms,
- bump,
- bust,
- capsulize,
- carbonate,
- catalyze,
- change,
- change into,
- change over,
- charge off,
- chasten,
- cheapen,
- chemical,
- chlorinate,
- circumscribe,
- clip,
- coarct,
- compact,
- compress,
- concentrate,
- condense,
- condition,
- conquer,
- consolidate,
- constrain,
- constrict,
- constringe,
- contract,
- control,
- convert,
- couch,
- count,
- count calories,
- cramp,
- cripple,
- crop,
- crush,
- curtail,
- cushion,
- cut,
- cut back,
- cut down,
- cut off short,
- cut prices,
- cut short,
- damp,
- dampen,
- de-emphasize,
- deaden,
- deaden the pain,
- debase,
- debilitate,
- decline,
- decrease,
- deduct,
- deflate,
- degrade,
- demean,
- demote,
- deplume,
- depreciate,
- depress,
- derange,
- derogate,
- detract,
- detrude,
- devaluate,
- devitalize,
- diet,
- dilute,
- diminish,
- disable,
- discount,
- disgrade,
- disorder,
- disparage,
- displume,
- dissect,
- distill,
- dive,
- divide,
- do over,
- dock,
- downbear,
- downgrade,
- downplay,
- drain,
- draw,
- draw in,
- draw together,
- drop,
- dull,
- dump,
- dump on,
- ease,
- ease matters,
- eat away,
- electrolyze,
- elide,
- enervate,
- enfeeble,
- epitomize,
- erode,
- eviscerate,
- exhaust,
- extenuate,
- extract,
- fall,
- fall in price,
- fell,
- ferment,
- file away,
- fix,
- flatten,
- foment,
- foreshorten,
- give relief,
- give way,
- grind,
- gruel,
- haul down,
- hedge,
- hedge about,
- homopolymerize,
- hospitalize,
- humble,
- humiliate,
- hydrate,
- hydrogenate,
- hydroxylate,
- impair,
- impoverish,
- increase,
- indent,
- indispose,
- invalid,
- irrigate,
- isomerize,
- jew down,
- keep within bounds,
- kick back,
- knit,
- knock down,
- lay,
- lay low,
- lay up,
- leach,
- leaven,
- lenify,
- lessen,
- let down,
- let up on,
- lighten,
- limit,
- lose flesh,
- lose weight,
- lower,
- lull,
- make,
- make allowance,
- make over,
- mark down,
- master,
- measure,
- minimize,
- mitigate,
- moderate,
- modify,
- modulate,
- mollify,
- mow,
- narrow,
- naturalize,
- nip,
- nitrate,
- nose-dive,
- numb,
- number,
- obtund,
- overmaster,
- override,
- oversimplify,
- overwhelm,
- oxidize,
- pad,
- palliate,
- parcel,
- pare,
- pauperize,
- pepsinate,
- peroxidize,
- phosphatize,
- play down,
- plummet,
- plunge,
- poll,
- pollard,
- polymerize,
- poultice,
- pour balm into,
- pour oil on,
- powder,
- press down,
- prostrate,
- prune,
- pucker,
- pucker up,
- pull down,
- pulp,
- purify,
- purse,
- push down,
- put down,
- qualify,
- quantify,
- quantize,
- quell,
- rarefy,
- rate,
- rattle,
- reap,
- rebate,
- recap,
- recapitulate,
- reconvert,
- reduce the temperature,
- reduce to,
- reduce to elements,
- reduce weight,
- refine,
- refund,
- regulate by,
- relieve,
- remove,
- render,
- reset,
- resolve,
- resolve into,
- restrain,
- restrict,
- retrench,
- reverse,
- ride down,
- roll back,
- rub,
- rub away,
- sag,
- salve,
- sap,
- scale down,
- season,
- segment,
- separate,
- set,
- set conditions,
- set down,
- set limits,
- shake,
- shake up,
- shave,
- shear,
- shift,
- shorten,
- sicken,
- simplify,
- sink,
- slacken,
- slake,
- slash,
- slenderize,
- slim,
- slim down,
- slow down,
- slump,
- smash,
- smother,
- snub,
- sober,
- sober down,
- soften,
- soften up,
- solidify,
- soothe,
- step down,
- stifle,
- strangle,
- strangulate,
- streamline,
- strip down,
- strip of rank,
- stunt,
- stupe,
- subdivide,
- subduct,
- subdue,
- subjugate,
- subtract,
- sulfate,
- sulfatize,
- sulfonate,
- sum up,
- summarize,
- suppress,
- switch,
- switch over,
- synopsize,
- take a premium,
- take away,
- take down,
- take from,
- take in,
- take off,
- take off weight,
- tame,
- telescope,
- temper,
- thin,
- thin down,
- thin out,
- thrust down,
- tone down,
- trample down,
- trample underfoot,
- transform,
- tread underfoot,
- trim,
- trip up,
- triturate,
- truncate,
- tune down,
- turn,
- turn back,
- turn into,
- tyrannize,
- unbrace,
- undermine,
- underplay,
- unman,
- unnerve,
- unstrengthen,
- unstring,
- vanquish,
- water,
- water down,
- weaken,
- wear away,
- weed,
- weight-watch,
- withdraw,
- work,
- wrinkle,
- write off