reduce
English
Etymology
From Middle English reducen, from Old French reducer, from Latin redūcō (“reduce”); from re- (“back”) + dūcō (“lead”). See duke, and compare with redoubt.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɹɪˈdjuːs/, /ɹɪˈd͡ʒuːs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ɹɪˈduːs/
audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -uːs
Verb
reduce (third-person singular simple present reduces, present participle reducing, simple past and past participle reduced)
- (transitive) To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower.
- to reduce weight, speed, heat, expenses, price, personnel etc.
- 2012 January 1, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 60:
- Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.
- 2022 January 12, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Emergency timetables as absences surge due to COVID”, in RAIL, number 948, page 6:
- Most train operators have reduced services with emergency timetables, as they struggle to cope with a rapid increase in staff absences due to the Omicron variant of COVID.
- (intransitive) To lose weight.
- (transitive) To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
- to reduce a sergeant to the ranks
- 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], OCLC 742335644:
- My father, the eldest son of an ancient but reduced family, left me with little.
- a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Folly of Scoffing at Religion
- nothing so excellent but a man may falten upon something or other belonging to it whereby to reduce it .
- 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398:
- Having reduced their foe to misery beneath their fears.
- 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 13, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, OCLC 223202227:
- Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced.
- 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page viii:
- Neither [Jones] […] nor I (in 1966) could conceive of reducing our "science" to the ultimate absurdity of reading Finnish newspapers almost a century and a half old in order to establish "priority."
- (transitive) To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.
- to reduce a province or a fort
- (transitive) To bring to an inferior state or condition.
- to reduce a city to ashes
- (transitive, cooking) To decrease the liquid content of food by boiling much of its water off.
- 2011, Edward Behr and James MacGuire, The Art of Eating Cookbook: Essential Recipes from the First 25 Years.
- Serve the oxtails with mustard or a sauce made by reducing the soup, if any is left, to a slightly thick sauce.
- 2011, Edward Behr and James MacGuire, The Art of Eating Cookbook: Essential Recipes from the First 25 Years.
- (transitive, chemistry) To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.
- Formaldehyde can be reduced to form methanol.
- (transitive, metallurgy) To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
- (transitive, mathematics) To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
- (transitive, computer science) To express the solution of a problem in terms of another (known) algorithm.
- (transitive, logic) To convert a syllogism to a clearer or simpler form.
- (transitive, law) To convert to written form. (Usage note: this verb almost always appears as "reduce to writing".)
- It is important that all business contracts be reduced to writing.
- (transitive, medicine) To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
- (transitive, military) To reform a line or column from (a square).
- (transitive, military) To strike off the payroll.
- (transitive, Scotland, law) To annul by legal means.
- (transitive, obsolete) To translate (a book, document, etc.).
- a book reduced into English
Synonyms
- (to bring down): cut, decrease, lower
- (cooking): inspissate; see also Thesaurus:thicken
Antonyms
- (to bring down): increase
Related terms
Related terms
- reducible
- reductase
- reduction
- reductive
Translations
to bring down
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to lose weight
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to bring to an inferior rank
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to bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture
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to bring to an inferior state or condition
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to decrease the liquid in food
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chemistry: to add electrons to or remove hydrogen
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metallurgy: to remove non-metals from metal
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math: to simplify a formula
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
- reducing agent
References
- reduce in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Italian
Etymology
From Latin redux (“that returns”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈrɛ.du.t͡ʃe/
- Rhymes: -ɛdutʃe
- Hyphenation: rè‧du‧ce
Adjective
reduce (plural reduci) [+ da (object)]
- returning (from)
- Synonym: ritornato
Noun
reduce m or f by sense (plural reduci)
- survivor
- Synonym: sopravvissuto
- veteran (of a conflict)
- Synonyms: veterano, ex combattente
Anagrams
- cudere, ducere
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /reˈduː.ke/, [rɛˈd̪uːkɛ]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /reˈdu.t͡ʃe/, [reˈd̪uːt͡ʃe]
Verb
redūce
- second-person singular present active imperative of redūcō
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈre.du.ke/, [ˈrɛd̪ʊkɛ]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈre.du.t͡ʃe/, [ˈrɛːd̪ut͡ʃe]
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈre.du.ke/, [ˈrɛd̪ʊkɛ]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈre.du.t͡ʃe/, [ˈrɛːd̪ut͡ʃe]
Adjective
rĕduce
- ablative masculine/feminine/neuter singular of rē̆dux
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin reducere, French réduire, based on duce. Compare the inherited doublet arăduce.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /reˈdutʃe/, [re̞ˈd̪utʃe̞]
Verb
a reduce (third-person singular present reduce, past participle redus) 3rd conj.
- (transitive) to reduce, to lessen
Conjugation
conjugation of reduce (third conjugation, past participle in -s)
infinitive | a reduce | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
gerund | reducând | ||||||
past participle | redus | ||||||
number | singular | plural | |||||
person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |
indicative | eu | tu | el/ea | noi | voi | ei/ele | |
present | reduc | reduci | reduce | reducem | reduceți | reduc | |
imperfect | reduceam | reduceai | reducea | reduceam | reduceați | reduceau | |
simple perfect | redusei | reduseși | reduse | reduserăm | reduserăți | reduseră | |
pluperfect | redusesem | reduseseși | redusese | reduseserăm | reduseserăți | reduseseră | |
subjunctive | eu | tu | el/ea | noi | voi | ei/ele | |
present | să reduc | să reduci | să reducă | să reducem | să reduceți | să reducă | |
imperative | — | tu | — | — | voi | — | |
affirmative | redu | reduceți | |||||
negative | nu reduce | nu reduceți |
Derived terms
Derived terms
- reducător
- reducere
- reductibil
- reducție
- reductor
- redus
Related terms
- duce
See also
- arăduce
Spanish
Verb
reduce
- inflection of reducir:
- third-person singular present indicative
- second-person singular imperative