Reduce
[rɪ'djuːs] or [rɪ'dʊs]
Definition
(verb.) take off weight.
(verb.) narrow or limit; 'reduce the influx of foreigners'.
(verb.) cook until very little liquid is left; 'The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time'.
(verb.) make smaller; 'reduce an image'.
(verb.) make less complex; 'reduce a problem to a single question'.
(verb.) cut down on; make a reduction in; 'reduce your daily fat intake'; 'The employer wants to cut back health benefits'.
(verb.) reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site.
(verb.) undergo meiosis; 'The cells reduce'.
(verb.) lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation; 'She reduced her niece to a servant' .
(verb.) simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another.
(verb.) lessen and make more modest; 'reduce one's standard of living'.
(verb.) bring to humbler or weaker state or condition; 'He reduced the population to slavery'.
(verb.) destress and thus weaken a sound when pronouncing it.
(verb.) be the essential element; 'The proposal boils down to a compromise'.
Editor: Nancy--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) To bring or lead back to any former place or condition.
(n.) To bring to any inferior state, with respect to rank, size, quantity, quality, value, etc.; to diminish; to lower; to degrade; to impair; as, to reduce a sergeant to the ranks; to reduce a drawing; to reduce expenses; to reduce the intensity of heat.
(n.) To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture; as, to reduce a province or a fort.
(n.) To bring to a certain state or condition by grinding, pounding, kneading, rubbing, etc.; as, to reduce a substance to powder, or to a pasty mass; to reduce fruit, wood, or paper rags, to pulp.
(n.) To bring into a certain order, arrangement, classification, etc.; to bring under rules or within certain limits of descriptions and terms adapted to use in computation; as, to reduce animals or vegetables to a class or classes; to reduce a series of observations in astronomy; to reduce language to rules.
(n.) To change, as numbers, from one denomination into another without altering their value, or from one denomination into others of the same value; as, to reduce pounds, shillings, and pence to pence, or to reduce pence to pounds; to reduce days and hours to minutes, or minutes to days and hours.
(n.) To change the form of a quantity or expression without altering its value; as, to reduce fractions to their lowest terms, to a common denominator, etc.
(n.) To bring to the metallic state by separating from impurities; hence, in general, to remove oxygen from; to deoxidize; to combine with, or to subject to the action of, hydrogen; as, ferric iron is reduced to ferrous iron; or metals are reduced from their ores; -- opposed to oxidize.
(n.) To restore to its proper place or condition, as a displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a fracture, or a hernia.
Edited by Jonathan
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Restore, bring back.[2]. Render, form, mould, make, shape, model, remodel, convert into, resolve into, change into, bring into, bring to.[3]. Diminish, contract, lessen, abate, decrease, abridge, curtail, shorten, cut short, cut down, make less.[4]. Depress, debase, lower, weaken, dwarf.[5]. Subdue, conquer, subjugate, overpower, overthrow, vanquish, master, get the better of, get the upper hand of, bring into subjection.[6]. Impoverish, ruin, bring to want, bring to poverty.[7]. (Math.) Solve, resolve.
Editor: Monica
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Lessen, diminish, curtail, attenuate, impoverish, narrow, contract, weaken,impair, subdue, subjugate, bring, refer, subject, classify, convert
ANT:Enlarge, magnify, increase, augment, produce, extend, amplify, broaden, expand,renovate, invigorate, restore, repair, liberate, free, except, dissociate,transform
Typist: Shelley
Definition
v.t. to bring into a lower state as to reduce the ores of silver: to lessen: to impoverish: to subdue: to arrange: (arith. and alg.) to change numbers or quantities from one denomination into another: to reduce to its proper form as to reduce a fracture: to bring into a new form as to reduce Latin to English: to weaken: to bring into a class: (Scots law) to annul by legal means: (mil.) to strike off the pay-roll.—ns. Reduc′er one who reduces: a joint-piece for connecting pipes of varying diameter; Reducibil′ity Reduc′ibleness the quality of being reducible.—adj. Reduc′ible that may be reduced.—ns. Reduc′ing-scale a scale used by surveyors for reducing chains and links to acres and roods; Reduc′tion act of reducing or state of being reduced: diminution: subjugation: a rule for changing numbers or quantities from one denomination to another.—adj. Reduc′tive having the power to reduce.—Reduce to the ranks to degrade for misconduct to the condition of a private soldier; Reductio ad absurdum the proof of a proposition by proving the falsity of its contradictory opposite; Reduction works smelting works.
Typed by Deirdre
Examples
- Does he think to reduce me by long absence? Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Some part must be sold to those who are willing to pay less, and the low price which they give for it must reduce the price of the whole. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- This will immediately cut off all loose discourses and declamations, and reduce us to something precise and exact on the present subject. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Hush,' said Sam, swinging himself on to the wall, and crouching there in as small a compass as he could reduce himself to, 'only me, miss, only me. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- These chunks are then run through grinding machines, which reduce the chicle to a coarse meal. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Then she ought to take medicines that would reduce--reduce the disease, you know, if you are right, my dear. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- For this reason engineers, wherever possible, level down the steep places, and reduce the strain as far as possible. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- It was now reduced and confined to the original purpose of its institution. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Thus, while the force was reduced nearly one-half, the quantity of product was more than doubled. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The railways reduced this journey for any ordinary traveller to less than forty-eight hours. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Reduced to its barest, crudest terms, the proposition of magnetic separation is simplicity itself. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- He was reduced to the verge of despair, when an open door attracted his attention. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- I had quite lost my stomach, and was almost reduced to a skeleton. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- Wickham of course wanted more than he could get; but at length was reduced to be reasonable. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- As the magnet recedes from the coil, it carries lines of force away with it, this time reducing the number of the lines which cut the coil. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- This original method of reducing the amount of physical labor involved in watch-winding brings to mind another instance of shrewdness mentioned by Edison, with regard to his newsboy days. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Some chemical and other processes for reducing ores have been referred to in the Chapter on Metallurgy. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- These latter rolls were also face-lined with chilled-iron plates; but, unlike the larger ones, were positively driven, reducing the rock to pieces of about one-half-inch size, or smaller. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Reducing my speed I circled and came to the ground at the feet of the astonished Zodangan. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- By reducing the rate of interest, therefore, from ten to five per cent. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- But it still remains to elucidate the actual thing done; to reduce it to concrete data, and in reducing, to unfold its colossal dimensions. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- This reduces the weight of the gun, and is important to the man who carries it. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Care at this stage reduces the necessity for straightening later. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- It restrains the circulation of each particular company within a narrower circle, and reduces their circulating notes to a smaller number. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The ovens are highly insulated with a thick packing of best grade mineral wool, which reduces air leakage to a minimum and retains the heat generated for a long period. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Lydgate was bowing his neck under the yoke like a creature who had talons, but who had Reason too, which often reduces us to meekness. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It is drawn between the cylinders, which reduces the whole to an equal thickness. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The poverty which reduces an Irish girl to rags is impotent to rob the English girl of the neat wardrobe she knows necessary to her self-respect. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
Typist: Wanda