REDUCE

Pronunciation (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does reduce mean? 

• REDUCE (verb)
  The verb REDUCE has 19 senses:

1. cut down on; make a reduction in
2. make less complex
3. bring to humbler or weaker state or condition
4. simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another
5. lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation
6. be the essential element
7. reduce in size; reduce physically
8. lessen and make more modest
9. make smaller
10. 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
11. narrow or limit
12. put down by force or intimidation
13. undergo meiosis
14. reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site
15. reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
16. be cooked until very little liquid is left
17. cook until very little liquid is left
18. lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture
19. take off weight

  Familiarity information: REDUCE used as a verb is very familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REDUCE (verb)

Sense 1

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Cut down on; make a reduction in

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

trim down; cut down; reduce; trim back; cut; cut back; trim; bring down

Context examples:

reduce your daily fat intake / The employer wants to cut back health benefits

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

decrease; lessen; minify (make smaller)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reduce"):

inflate (increase the amount or availability of, creating a rise in value)

deflate (reduce or cut back the amount or availability of, creating a decline in value or prices)

detract; take away (take away a part from; diminish)

thin (make thin or thinner)

thin out (make sparse)

slash (cut drastically)

retrench (make a reduction, as in one's workforce)

quench (reduce the degree of (luminescence or phosphorescence) in (excited molecules or a material) by adding a suitable substance)

shorten (make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration)

knock off; shave (cut the price of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Make less complex

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

reduce a problem to a single question

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

simplify (make simpler or easier or reduce in complexity or extent)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reduce"):

abbreviate (shorten)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Bring to humbler or weaker state or condition

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

He reduced the population to slavery

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

break; bump; demote; kick downstairs; relegate (assign to a lower position; reduce in rank)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Sense 4

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

replace; substitute (put in the place of another; switch seemingly equivalent items)

Domain category:

math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Context example:

She reduced her niece to a servant

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

degrade; demean; disgrace; put down; take down (reduce in worth or character, usually verbally)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 6

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Be the essential element

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

boil down; come down; reduce

Context example:

The proposal boils down to a compromise

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

become; turn (undergo a change or development)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 7

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Reduce in size; reduce physically

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

shrink; reduce

Context examples:

Hot water will shrink the sweater / Can you shrink this image?

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

decrease; lessen; minify (make smaller)

Cause:

contract; shrink (become smaller or draw together)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reduce"):

contract (make smaller)

depopulate; desolate (reduce in population)

miniaturise; miniaturize (design or construct on a smaller scale)

reef (reduce (a sail) by taking in a reef)

reduce; scale down (make smaller)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 8

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Lessen and make more modest

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

reduce one's standard of living

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

impoverish (make poor)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 9

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Make smaller

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

scale down; reduce

Context example:

reduce an image

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

reduce; shrink (reduce in size; reduce physically)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

blow up (make large)

Sense 10

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

deoxidise; deoxidize; reduce

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reduce"):

benficiate (subject to a reduction process)

pole (deoxidize molten metals by stirring them with a wooden pole)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 11

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Narrow or limit

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

tighten; reduce

Context example:

reduce the influx of foreigners

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

bound; confine; limit; restrain; restrict; throttle; trammel (place limits on (extent or access))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 12

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Put down by force or intimidation

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

quash; repress; subdue; subjugate; keep down; reduce

Context examples:

The government quashes any attempt of an uprising / China keeps down her dissidents very efficiently / The rich landowners subjugated the peasants working the land

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

crush; oppress; suppress (come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sense 13

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Undergo meiosis

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

The cells reduce

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

divide; part; separate (come apart)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 14

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

reposition (place into another position)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 15

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Reduce in scope while retaining essential elements

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

abridge; foreshorten; abbreviate; shorten; contract; reduce; cut

Context example:

The manuscript must be shortened

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

decrease; lessen; minify (make smaller)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reduce"):

concentrate; condense; digest (make more concise)

bowdlerise; bowdlerize; castrate; expurgate; shorten (edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 16

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Be cooked until very little liquid is left

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

boil down; decoct; concentrate; reduce

Context example:

The sauce should reduce to one cup

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

decrease; diminish; fall; lessen (decrease in size, extent, or range)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 17

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Cook until very little liquid is left

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

boil down; concentrate; reduce

Context example:

The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

decrease; lessen; minify (make smaller)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 18

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

dilute; thin out; thin; reduce; cut

Context example:

cut bourbon

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

weaken (lessen the strength of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reduce"):

water down (make less strong or intense)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 19

reduce [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Take off weight

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

lose weight; slim down; slim; melt off; slenderize; thin; reduce

Hypernyms (to "reduce" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reduce"):

sweat off (lose weight by sweating)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Antonym:

gain (increase (one's body weight))