REDUCTION

noun Etymology: Middle English reduccion restoration, from Middle French reducion, from Late Latin & Latin; Late Latin ~-, reductio ~ (in a syllogism), from Latin, restoration, from reducere Date: 15th century the act or process of reducing ; the state of being reduced, 2. something made by reducing, the amount by which something is reduced, a South American Indian settlement directed by Jesuit missionaries, meiosis 2, ~al adjective