(~s, reducing, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If you ~ something, you make it smaller in size or amount, or less in degree.
It ~s the risks of heart disease...
The ~d consumer demand is also affecting company profits.
? increase
VERB: V n, V-ed
2.
If someone is ~d to a weaker or inferior state, they become weaker or inferior as a result of something that happens to them.
They were ~d to extreme poverty...
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed to n
3.
If you say that someone is ~d to doing something, you mean that they have to do it, although it is unpleasant or embarrassing.
He was ~d to begging for a living.
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed to n/-ing
4.
If something is changed to a different or less complicated form, you can say that it is ~d to that form.
All the buildings in the town have been ~d to rubble...
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed to n
5.
If you ~ liquid when you are cooking, or if it ~s, it is boiled in order to make it less in quantity and thicker.
Boil the liquid in a small saucepan to ~ it by half...
Simmer until mixture ~s.
VERB: V n, V
6.
If someone or something ~s you to tears, they make you feel so unhappy that you cry.
The attentions of the media ~d her to tears.
PHRASE: V inflects