Meaning of 'reduce' (Webster Dictionary)
- To bring or lead back to any former place or condition.
- 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.
- To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to
capture; as, to reduce a province or a fort.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- To restore to its proper place or condition, as a displaced
organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a fracture, or a hernia.
Meaning of 'reduce' (Princeton's WordNet)
Meaning (1):
- reduce in size; reduce physically
Example in sentence:- Can you shrink this image?;
- Hot water will shrink the sweater
Meaning (2):
- put down by force or intimidation
Example in sentence:- China keeps down her dissidents very efficiently;
- The government quashes any attempt of an uprising;
- The rich landowners subjugated the peasants working the land
Meaning (3):
- lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture
Meaning (4):
- make smaller
Example in sentence:- He decreased his staff;
- reduce an image;
- The heat contracted the woollen garment
Meaning (5):
- bring to humbler or weaker state or condition
Example in sentence:- He reduced the population to slavery
Meaning (6):
- make less complex
Example in sentence:- reduce a problem to a single question
Meaning (7):
- lessen and make more modest
Example in sentence:- reduce one's standard of living
Meaning (8):
- narrow or limit
Example in sentence:- reduce the influx of foreigners
Meaning (9):
- cut down on; make a reduction in
Example in sentence:- reduce your daily fat intake;
- The employer wants to cut back health benefits
Meaning (10):
- lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation
Example in sentence:- She reduced her niece to a servant
Meaning (11):
- undergo meiosis
Meaning (12):
- cook until very little liquid is left
Example in sentence:- The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time
Meaning (13):
- reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
Example in sentence:- The manuscript must be shortened
Meaning (14):
- be the essential element
Example in sentence:- The proposal boils down to a compromise
Meaning (15):
- be cooked until very little liquid is left
Example in sentence:- The sauce should reduce to one cup
Definition
[ n.]