reduce meaning and definition

REDUCE verb

Definition of reduce (verb)

1. cut down on; make a reduction in
   • "reduce your daily fat intake"; "The employer wants to cut back health benefits"
   • synonyms: bring down, cut, cut back, cut down, trim, trim back, trim down
2. make less complex
   • "reduce a problem to a single question"
3. bring to humbler or weaker state or condition
   • "He reduced the population to slavery"
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
   • "She reduced her niece to a servant"
6. be the essential element
   • "The proposal boils down to a compromise"
   • synonyms: boil down, come down
7. reduce in size; reduce physically
   • "Hot water will shrink the sweater"; "Can you shrink this image?"
   • synonyms: shrink
8. lessen and make more modest
   • "reduce one's standard of living"
9. make smaller
   • "reduce an image"
   • synonyms: scale down
   • antonym: blow up
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
    • synonyms: deoxidise, deoxidize
    • antonym: oxidate
11. narrow or limit
    • "reduce the influx of foreigners"
    • synonyms: tighten
12. put down by force or intimidation
    • "The government quashes any attempt of an uprising"; "China keeps down her dissidents very efficiently"; "The rich landowners subjugated the peasants working the land"
    • synonyms: keep down, quash, repress, subdue, subjugate
13. undergo meiosis
    • "The cells reduce"
14. reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site
15. destress and thus weaken a sound when pronouncing it
16. reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
    • "The manuscript must be shortened"
    • synonyms: abbreviate, abridge, contract, cut, foreshorten, shorten
    • antonym: dilate
17. be cooked until very little liquid is left
    • "The sauce should reduce to one cup"
    • synonyms: boil down, concentrate, decoct
18. cook until very little liquid is left
    • "The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time"
    • synonyms: boil down, concentrate
19. lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture
    • "cut bourbon"
    • synonyms: cut, dilute, thin, thin out
20. take off weight
    • synonyms: lose weight, melt off, slenderize, slim, slim down, thin
    • antonym: gain