reduce
pronunciation
How to pronounce reduce in British English:
UK [rɪˈdjuːs]
How to pronounce reduce in American English:
US [rɪˈduːs]
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- Verb:
- cut down on; make a reduction in
- make less complex
- bring to humbler or weaker state or condition
- simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another
- lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation
- be the essential element
- reduce in size; reduce physically
- lessen and make more modest
- make smaller
- 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
- narrow or limit
- put down by force or intimidation
- undergo meiosis
- reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site
- reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
- be cooked until very little liquid is left
- cook until very little liquid is left
- lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture
- take off weight
Word Origin
- reduce
- reduce: [14] ‘Lessen, diminish’ is a comparatively recent semantic development for reduce. Its Latin ancestor was certainly not used in that sense. This was redūcere, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and dūcere ‘lead, bring’ (source of English duct, duke, educate, etc). It meant literally ‘bring back’, hence ‘restore’ and also ‘withdraw’.The original ‘bring back’ made the journey to English, and even survived into the early 17th century (‘reducing often to my memory the conceit of that Roman stoic’, Sir Henry Wotton, Elements of Architecture 1624). The sense ‘lessen, diminish’ seems to be the result of a semantic progression from ‘bring back to a particular condition’ via ‘bring back to order’ and ‘bring to subjection’.=> duct, duke, educate, introduce, produce, redoubt
- reduce (v.)
- late 14c., "bring back," from Old French reducer (14c.), from Latin reducere "lead back, bring back," figuratively "restore, replace," from re- "back" (see re-) + ducere "bring, lead" (see duke (n.)). Meaning "bring to an inferior condition" is 1570s; that of "bring to a lower rank" is 1640s (military reduce to ranks is from 1802); that of "subdue by force of arms" is 1610s. Sense of "to lower, diminish, lessen" is from 1787. Related: Reduced; reducing.
Antonym
Example
- 1. Rebalancing requires that china reduce investment growth .
- 2. This is an obvious place to reduce spending .
- 3. Various measures could reduce this pollution .
- 4. The current situation seems to reduce that risk .
- 5. All this may reduce the pool of potential mortgage investors .