reduce
verb
[ rɪˈdjuːs ]
• make smaller or less in amount, degree, or size.
• "the need for businesses to reduce costs"
Similar:
lessen,
make less,
make smaller,
lower,
bring down,
decrease,
turn down,
diminish,
take the edge off,
minimize,
shrink,
narrow,
contract,
shorten,
foreshorten,
truncate,
taper,
close,
abbreviate,
condense,
concentrate,
abridge,
deplete,
axe,
cut,
cut back/down,
make cutbacks in,
scale down,
trim,
slim (down),
prune,
chop,
curtail,
limit,
moderate,
lighten,
ease,
dilute,
mitigate,
commute,
qualify,
alleviate,
relax,
abate,
amortize,
make cheaper,
lower the price of,
lower/cut in price,
cheapen,
mark down,
discount,
put on sale,
offer at a giveaway price,
slash,
knock down,
• bring someone or something to (a worse or less desirable state or condition).
• "she has been reduced to near poverty"
Similar:
bring to,
bring to the point of,
force into,
drive into,
• change a substance to (a different or more basic form).
• "it is difficult to understand how lava could have been reduced to dust"
• cause to combine chemically with hydrogen.
• "hydrogen for reducing the carbon dioxide"
• restore (a dislocated part of the body) to its proper position by manipulation or surgery.
• "Joe's reducing a dislocated thumb"
• besiege and capture (a town or fortress).
Origin:
late Middle English: from Latin reducere, from re- ‘back, again’ + ducere ‘bring, lead’. The original sense was ‘bring back’ (hence ‘restore’, now surviving in reduce (sense 5)); this led to ‘bring to a different state’, then ‘bring to a simpler or lower state’ (hence reduce (sense 3)); and finally ‘diminish in size or amount’ (reduce (sense 1), dating from the late 18th century).
