|
|
| |
Definitions for: Reduce
[v] take off weight
[v] lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture; "cut bourbon"
[v] narrow or limit; "reduce the influx of foreigners"
[v] cook until very little liquid is left, as of sauces; "The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time"
[v] be cooked until very little is left; as of sauces; "The sauce should reduce to one cup"
[v] be the essential element; "The proposal boils down to a compromise"
[v] remove oxygen from a compound, in chemistry
[v] make smaller; "reduce an image"
[v] reduce in size; reduce physically; "Hot water will shrink the sweater"; "Can you shrink this image?"
[v] make less complex; "reduce a problem to a single question"
[v] reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened"
[v] cut down on; make a reduction in; "reduce your daily fat intake"; "The employer wants to cut back health benefits"
[v] reposition back to its normal site, as of a broken bone, in surgery
[v] undergo meiosis; "The cells reduce"
[v] lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation; "She reduced her niece to a servant"
[v] simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another
[v] lessen; "reduced standard of living"
[v] bring to humbler or weaker state or condition; "He reduced the population to slavery"
[v] put down by force or intimidation; "The government quashes any attempt of an uprising"; "China keeps down her dissidents very efficiently"; "The rich landowners subjugated the peasants working the land"
Webster (1913) Definition: Re*duce" (r[-e]*d[=u]s"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reduced
(-d[=u]st"),; p. pr. & vb. n. Reducing (-d[=u]"s[i^]ng).]
[L. reducere, reductum; pref. red-. re-, re- + ducere to
lead. See Duke, and cf. Redoubt, n.]
1. To bring or lead back to any former place or condition.
[Obs.]
And to his brother's house reduced his wife.
--Chapman.
The sheep must of necessity be scattered, unless the
great Shephered of souls oppose, or some of his
delegates reduce and direct us. --Evelyn.
2. 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. ``An ancient but reduced
family.'' --Sir W. Scott.
Nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon
something belonging to it, to reduce it.
--Tillotson.
Having reduced Their foe to misery beneath their
fears. --Milton.
Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which
she found the clergyman reduced. --Hawthorne.
3. To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to
capture; as, to reduce a province or a fort.
4. 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.
It were but right And equal to reduce me to my dust.
--Milton.
5. 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.
6. (Arith.)
(a) 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.
(b) 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.
7. (Chem.) 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.
8. (Med.) To restore to its proper place or condition, as a
displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a
fracture, or a hernia.
Reduced iron (Chem.), metallic iron obtained through
deoxidation of an oxide of iron by exposure to a current
of hydrogen or other reducing agent. When hydrogen is used
the product is called also iron by hydrogen.
To reduce an equation (Alg.), to bring the unknown quantity
by itself on one side, and all the known quantities on the
other side, without destroying the equation.
To reduce an expression (Alg.), to obtain an equivalent
expression of simpler form.
To reduce a square (Mil.), to reform the line or column
from the square.
Syn: To diminish; lessen; decrease; abate; shorten; curtail;
impair; lower; subject; subdue; subjugate; conquer.
Synonyms: abridge, boil down, bring down, come down, concentrate, cut, cut back, cut down, decoct, deoxidise, deoxidize, dilute, foreshorten, keep down, lose weight, melt off, quash, repress, scale down, shorten, slenderize, slim, slim down, subdue, subjugate, thin, thin, thin out, tighten, trim, trim back, trim down
Antonyms: blow up, enlarge, gain, magnify, oxidate, oxidise, oxidize, put on
See Also: abbreviate, become, benficiate, bound, bowdlerise, bowdlerize, break, bump, castrate, change, change state, clamp down, condense, confine, contract, crush, decrease, deflate, degrade, demean, demote, depopulate, desolate, detract, diminish, disgrace, divide, expurgate, fall, impoverish, inflate, kick downstairs, knock off, lessen, limit, miniaturise, miniaturize, minify, oppress, part, pole, put down, quench, reduce, reef, relegate, replace, reposition, restrain, restrict, retrench, separate, shave, shrink, simplify, slash, substitute, suppress, sweat off, take away, throttle, trammel, turn, turn, water down, weaken
|
|
Try our:
Scrabble Word Finder
Scrabble Cheat
Words With Friends Cheat
Hanging With Friends Cheat
Scramble With Friends Cheat
Ruzzle Cheat
Related Resources:
animals begin with w
animals starting with a
|
