Etimology
From Middle English reducen, from Old French reduire, from Latin redūcō (“reduce”); from re- (“back”) + dūcō (“lead”). See duke, and compare with redoubt.
verb
reduce (third-person singular simple present reduces, present participle reducing, simple past and past participle reduced)
(transitive) To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower.
(intransitive) To lose weight.
(transitive) To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
(transitive) To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.
(transitive) To bring to an inferior state or condition.
(transitive, cooking) To decrease the liquid content of food by boiling much of its water off.
(transitive, chemistry) To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.
(transitive, metallurgy) To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
(transitive, mathematics) To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
(transitive, computer science) To express the solution of a problem in terms of another (known) algorithm.
(transitive, logic) To convert a syllogism to a clearer or simpler form.
(transitive, law) To convert to written form. (Usage note: this verb almost always appears as "reduce to writing".)
(transitive, medicine) To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
(transitive, military) To reform a line or column from (a square).
(transitive, military) To strike off the payroll.
(transitive, Scots law) To annul by legal means.
(transitive, obsolete) To translate (a book, document, etc.).
Examples
to reduce weight, speed, heat, expenses, price, personnel etc.
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.
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.
to reduce a sergeant to the ranks
My father, the eldest son of an ancient but reduced family, left me with little.
nothing so excellent but a man may falten upon something or other belonging to it whereby to reduce it .
Having reduced their foe to misery beneath their fears.
Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced.
Neither [Jones] […] nor I 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."
to reduce a province or a fort
to reduce a city to ashes
Serve the oxtails with mustard or a sauce made by reducing the soup, if any is left, to a slightly thick sauce.
Formaldehyde can be reduced to form methanol.
It is important that all business contracts be reduced to writing.
a book reduced into English
Related words
synonyms
(to bring down): cut, decrease, lower
(cooking): inspissate; see also Thesaurus:thicken
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "to bring down"): increase
related terms
reducible
reductase
reduction
reductive