<< Back to dictionary
The Meaning of reduce
-
(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.
Synonyms
Lessen
,
diminish
,
curtail
,
attenuate
,
impoverish
,
narrow
,
contract
,
weaken
,
impair
,
subdue
,
subjugate
,
bring
,
refer
,
subject
,
classify
,
convert.
Antonyms
Enlarge
,
magnify
,
increase
,
augment
,
produce
,
extend
,
amplify
,
broaden
,
expand
,
renovate
,
invigorate
,
restore
,
repair
,
liberate
,
free
,
except
,
dissociate
,
transform.
Rhymes
abstruse
,
abuse
,
asmus
,
boose
,
bruce
,
caboose
,
chartreuse
,
cheuse
,
coos
,
cruce
,
cuisse
,
damoose
,
deduce
,
derousse
,
deuce
,
deuss
,
diffuse
,
disabuse
,
disuse
,
doose
,
douce
,
druce
,
duce
,
ekeus
,
excuse
,
footloose
,
goose
,
hoose
,
induce
,
introduce
,
juice
,
labouisse
,
lajous
,
loose
,
luce
,
misuse
,
moose
,
mousse
,
noose
,
nous
,
obtuse
,
overproduce
,
prepuce
,
preuss
,
produce
,
profuse
,
recluse
,
reintroduce
,
reproduce
,
reuse
,
ruess
,
seduce
,
seuss
,
sluice
,
spruce
,
truce
,
tyus
,
use
,
vanhoose
,
yous
,
zeus