reduce

verb

Simple meaning

To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ruhdoos

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US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ɹəˈdus

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

transitive
To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower.
Bring to humbler or weaker state or condition
“He reduced the population to slavery.”
transitive
To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
transitive
To bring to an inferior state or condition.
Cut down on; make a reduction in
To remove oxygen from a compound, or cause to react with hydrogen or form a hydride, or to undergo an increase in the number of electrons

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower.

Used this way, reduce is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

trim , a specialist term, precise but narrower
slim down , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use reduce

“Reduce your daily fat intake.”verb

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

reduce costssignificantly reducegreatly reducereduce heatfurther reducereduce stress

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

reducedadjectiveInflected form
Made less in size or amount or degree.
reducingnounInflected form
Any process in which electrons are added to an atom or ion (as by removing oxygen or adding hydrogen).
reducernounInflected form
A substance capable of bringing about the reduction of another substance as it itself is oxidized.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

reducing dietnounCompound term
A diet designed to help you lose weight (especially fat).
reducing agentnounCompound term
A substance capable of bringing about the reduction of another substance as it itself is oxidized.
reduced instruction set computingnounCompound term
A kind of computer architecture that has a relatively small set of computer instructions that it can perform.
reduced instruction set computernounCompound term
A kind of computer architecture that has a relatively small set of computer instructions that it can perform.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

reduction gearnounRelated term
Gearing that reduces an input speed to a slower output speed.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.