reduce

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Latin redūcere, present active infinitive of 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 impair.
    • to reduce weight, speed, heat, expenses, price, personnel etc.
    • 2012 January 1, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, American Scientist, 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.
  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.
    • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, 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.
  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.
  11. (transitive, medicine) To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.

Related terms[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

Antonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

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Translations to be checked

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Italian[edit]

Adjective[edit]

reduce m, f (masculine and feminine plural reduci) (da)

  1. returning (from)

Noun[edit]

reduce m (plural reduci)

  1. survivor
  2. veteran (of a conflict)

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Pronunciation 1[edit]

Verb[edit]

redūce

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of redūcō

Pronunciation 2[edit]

Adjective[edit]

rē̆duce

  1. ablative masculine singular of rē̆dux
  2. ablative feminine singular of rē̆dux
  3. ablative neuter singular of rē̆dux

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Latin reducere, French réduire, based on duce.

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]

reduce (third conjugation)
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]

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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