rə̇ˈd(y)üs, rēˈ- verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English reducen to lead back, bring back, draw together, from Latin reducere, from re- + ducere to lead — more at tow
transitive verb
1.
a. : to draw together or cause to converge : condense , consolidate
for the sake of brevity I reduce all their questions to one — Arnold Isenberg
all springs reduce their currents to my eyes — Shakespeare
b.
(1) : to diminish in size, amount, extent, or number : make smaller : lessen , shrink
the highway, here reduced to a street — G.R.Stewart
reduce excise rates on automobiles — Wall Street Journal
abolition of aggressive weapons would … reduce the likelihood of aggressive war — R.L.Buell
a safety campaign to reduce forest fires
a diet to reduce weight
(2) : to decrease the volume and concentrate the flavor of (as a gravy) by boiling off excess liquid
(3) : to concentrate or decrease the volume of (as crude petroleum) by removing light hydrocarbons by distillation
the residue or topped crude oil is further reduced — W.L.Nelson & A.P.Buthod
c. : to narrow down : confine , limit , restrict
when we know more about the capacities of man, we do not reduce them, but expand them — A.H.Compton
the Indians were reduced to a small fragment of their former domain — E.M.Coulter
d. : to make shorter or divest of nonessentials : abridge , curtail
great body of religious lyrics … skillfully reduced and edited — H.S.Bennett
double ax-head occurring among the hieroglyphic forms reduced to a linear outline — Edward Clodd
2. archaic
a. : to lead back : cause to return
reduce the Protestants within the pale of the Romish Church — Nicholas Tindal
b. : to restore to righteousness : save
if any of these erring men may be reduced, I have my end — John Milton
3.
a. obsolete : redirect
with these words reduce they thoughts that roam — William Austin
b. obsolete : to bring back
reduce , replant our bishop president — Edward Dering
c. : to bring to a specified state or condition by guidance or leadership
his task was to reduce to order the economic and political chaos following war — W.L.Fleming
4. archaic
a. : to cause to recur
traitors … that would reduce these bloody days again — Shakespeare
b. : to restore to a former condition
reduce them to their former shape — Jonathan Swift
5.
a.
(1) : to force to capitulate : bring under control : subdue , subjugate
after a long seige he reduced Alexandria — Encyc. Americana
a pioneer … reducing the savage wilderness for civilization — D.B.Davis
about thirty years ago the aboriginal tribes of the interior were reduced — E.P.Hanson
(2) : to wipe out (an enemy position) : eliminate , demolish
reduce a salient
reduce a machine gun nest
b. : to make captive or hand over
helped reduce the New Amsterdam Dutch to English control — R.P.Stearns
c.
(1) : to put under obligation : make , compel
one passage so painful that he was reduced to explain it by the arts of … wizards — G.G.Coulton
(2) : to force to resort
were reduced to the knee holds and body clings detested by all mountaineers — D.L.Busk
(3) : to cause to succumb
a scene that had reduced his wife to tears — Scott Fitzgerald
his exaggerated stories had reduced the patrons to openmouthed credulity — American Guide Series: Pennsylvania
d. obsolete : to make more temperate : overcome
it was necessary … their tempers be reduced by my kindness — Daniel Defoe
e. : to cause to revert to one's possession by exercising a legal claim
6.
a. : to assign to or describe in terms of fundamental classification
attempt to reduce life, mind, and spirit to the quantitative categories of physics, chemistry, and mathematics — W.R.Inge
b. : to bring to a systematic form or character — used with to
system of nature, which it is the business of science to study and reduce to laws — C.H.Whiteley
c. : to endow with a definite shape
the idea … was reduced to exact form — Graham Wallas
d. : to transfer to or as if to paper — used with to
reduce to writing his notions regarding the ideal bird dog — W.F.Brown b.1903
7.
a. : to put back (as a herniated mass) into place
b. : to restore (as elevated blood pressure) to a normal condition
c. : to set (as a fracture) by restoring misplaced parts to a normal position
8.
a. chiefly Scots law : rescind , annul
b. : to lower in grade or rank : demote
reduced from cruiser command to an inconspicuous post in the merchant marine because of … political differences — Lee Rogow
9.
a. : to lower in condition or status : debase , downgrade
at storekeeping he was a failure, and … was soon reduced to poverty — H.E.Starr
an old Crusader … reduced to menial work — T.B.Costain
historical reporting … reduces the novel to a news supplement — Allen Tate
b. : to be driven by poverty or deficiency
reduced to going about the … villages soliciting alms — J.G.Frazer
radicals … who used to speak of Russia as a land of hope are now reduced to saying that it is no worse than any other country — Zechariah Chafee
c. : to make physically weak
my father was so reduced, that I … made a bed for him on the deck — Charles Dickens
d. : to diminish in strength or density
rising sun quickly reduced the fog
as
(1) : to dilute (as a paint) with a thinner
(2) : to extend (as a pigment) with an inert extender or pigment
(3) : to make (a photographic negative) less dense
e. : to diminish in value
stocks have been reduced to a low level — Collier's Year Book
10.
a.
(1) : to change the denominations of without changing the value
reduce days and hours to minutes
(2) : to change the form of (an arithmetical expression) without changing the value
reduce fractions to a common denominator
(3) : to construct a geometrical figure similar to but smaller than (a given figure)
b. : to transpose from one form into another : convert , translate
given … credit for reducing time to space — N.E.Nelson
reduce disputes about ideas and values to factual, sociological terms — Cushing Strout
reduce government regulations to plain language
c.
(1) : to change (an expression) from a form that is given to another that is equivalent but considered to be more fundamental or important
reducing all sentential connectives to the stroke function
(2) : to change (a syllogism) to a mood in the first figure
11.
a. : to break down (as by crushing, grinding, or burning) : cause to disintegrate : pulverize
breaker rolls … reduce the wheat kernels to middlings — American Guide Series: Minnesota
tree stumps left on a clearing … are reduced by swarms of ants — C.D.Forde
a recent earthquake reduced the cathedral of Cuzco almost to a heap of rubble — Angélica Mendoza
b. archaic : to cause (a military unit) to disperse : disband
c. : to separate into commercially usable elements
reduce trees to lumber
reduce pilchards into oil and meal
d. : to treat (garbage) so as to recover grease and other products
12.
a. : to bring to the metallic state by removal of nonmetallic elements
iron ores are reduced to metallic iron
metals are reduced from their ores
— compare smelt
b. : deoxidize
reduce anthraquinone to anthracene
c. : to combine with or subject to the action of hydrogen : hydrogenate
acetaldehyde is reduced to alcohol in the final step of alcoholic fermentation
d. : to change (a compound) by decreasing the proportion of the electronegative part
reduce mercuric chloride to mercurous chloride
: change (an element or ion) from a higher to a lower oxidation state
in electrolysis, ferric ions are reduced to ferrous ions at the cathode — Farrington Daniels & R.A.Alberty
: add one or more electrons to (an atom or ion or molecule)
reduce ionic copper to metallic copper
— opposed to oxidize
13. : to transform to actuality
faces the task of reducing theory to a course of instruction — J.R.Butler
14.
a.
(1) : to use an unstressed vowel (as ə) or no vowel at all instead of (a stressed vowel)
(2) : to make such alteration in (a syllable)
b. : to cause the loss of a member from (a series of consonants or vowels)
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to become diminished or lessened ; especially : to lose weight by dieting
no more, thanks, I'm reducing
b. : to become concentrated
let the stock reduce , strain … and keep hot — Roger Angell
c. : to undergo meiosis
d. : to become consolidated
the number 53, which is composed of 5 and 3, reduces to the primate number 8 — W.B.Gibson
2. : to become converted or equated
romanticism and classicism … reduce in the end to differences of psychological type — Herbert Read
3. : to become weakened or diluted
poster paints reduce with water
4. : to undergo processing especially for commercial purposes
canneries send a stink of reducing fish into the air — John Steinbeck
Synonyms: see conquer , decrease