reduce

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Verb 1.3.1 Related terms 1.3.2 Translations 1.3.3 See also 1.3.4 References 2 Italian 2.1 Adjective 2.2 Noun 3 Romanian 3.1 Etymology 3.2 Pronunciation 3.3 Verb 3.3.1 Conjugation 3.3.2 Related terms 4 Spanish 4.1 Verb

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

Latin reducere, reductum; prefix red-. From re- + ducere (“‘to lead’”). See duke, and compare with redoubt.

[edit] Pronunciation

•  audio (US)^{help, file}
• (RP) IPA: /ɹɪˈdjuːs/, SAMPA: /rI"dju:s/
• (GenAm) IPA: /ɹɪˈduːs/, SAMPA: /rI"du:s/

  Rhymes: -uːs

[edit] Verb

to reduce (third-person singular simple present reduces, present participle reducing, simple past and past participle reduced)

1. (transitive) To bring down the size, quantity, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower, to impair.
   • to reduce weight, speed, heat, expenses, price, personnel etc.
2. (intransitive) To lose weight.
3. (transitive) To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
   • to reduce a sergeant to the ranks
   • An ancient but reduced family. --Sir Walter Scott.
   • Nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon something belonging to it, to reduce it. --John Tillotson.
   • Having reduced their foe to misery beneath their fears. -- John Milton.
   • Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced. --Nathaniel Hawthorne.
4. (transitive) To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.
   • to reduce a province or a fort
5. (transitive) To bring to an inferior state or condition.
   • to reduce a city to ashes
6. (transitive, cooking) To decrease the liquid content of food by boiling much of its water off.
7. (transitive, chemistry) To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.
8. (transitive, metallurgy) To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
9. (transitive, mathematics) To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
10. (transitive, law) To convert to written form (Usage note: this verb almost always take the phrase "to writing").
    • It is important that all business contracts be reduced to writing.

[edit] Related terms

• reducible
• reductase
• reduction
• reductive

[edit] Translations

[edit] See also

• reducing agent

[edit] References

• reduce in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

---

[edit] Italian

[edit] Adjective

reduce m and f (m and f plural reduci) (da)

1. returning (from)

[edit] Noun

reduce m. (plural reduci)

1. survivor
2. veteran (of a conflict)

---

[edit] Romanian

[edit] Etymology

Latin reducere.

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: [re'du.ʧe]

[edit] Verb

a reduce 3rd conj.

1. (transitive) to reduce, to lessen

[edit] Conjugation

[edit] Related terms

• reducere
• reducţie

---

[edit] Spanish

[edit] Verb

reduce (infinitive: reducir)

1. informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of reducir.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of reducir.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of reducir.