reduce

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English reducen, from Old French reducer, from Latin redūcō (“reduce”); from re- (“back”) + dūcō (“lead”). See duke, and compare with redoubt.

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (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[1], 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.
  2. (intransitive) To lose weight.
  3. (transitive) To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
    to reduce a sergeant to the ranks
    • 1815, Walter Scott, Guy Mannering
      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
      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."
  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.
    • 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.
  7. (transitive, chemistry) To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.
    Formaldehyde can be reduced to form methanol.
  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, computer science) To express the solution of a problem in terms of another (known) algorithm.
  11. (transitive, logic) To convert a syllogism to a clearer or simpler form.
  12. (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.
  13. (transitive, medicine) To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
  14. (transitive, military) To reform a line or column from (a square).
  15. (transitive, military) To strike off the payroll.
  16. (transitive, Scotland, law) To annul by legal means.
  17. (transitive, obsolete) To translate (a book, document, etc.).
    a book reduced into English

Synonyms[edit]

Antonyms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Related terms

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Italian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin redux (“that returns”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

reduce (plural reduci) (da)

  1. returning (from)
    Synonym: ritornato

Noun[edit]

reduce m or f (plural reduci)

  1. survivor
    Synonym: sopravvissuto
  2. veteran (of a conflict)
    Synonyms: veterano, ex combattente

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

redūce

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of redūcō

Etymology 2[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

rĕduce

  1. ablative masculine/feminine/neuter singular of rē̆dux

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Latin reducere, French réduire, based on duce. Compare the inherited doublet arăduce.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /reˈdutʃe/, [re̞ˈd̪utʃe̞]

Verb[edit]

a reduce (third-person singular present reduce, past participle redus) 3rd conj.

  1. (transitive) to reduce, to lessen

Conjugation[edit]

    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[edit]

Derived terms

Related terms[edit]

See also[edit]

Spanish[edit]

Verb[edit]

reduce

  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.
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