reduce
/rɪˈdus/
Reviewed on
Type
Verb
Meaning
To make something smaller in size, amount, degree, or price.
The company decided to reduce its operating expenses by ten percent.
Can regular exercise reduce your risk of heart disease?
To force someone or something into a simpler, worse, or less desirable state.
Severe budget cuts can easily reduce an ambitious program to a shell of itself.
The intense heat and high winds quickly reduced the abandoned barn to ashes.
To thicken a liquid by boiling it down so that water evaporates.
Simmer the tomato sauce over low heat until it reduces by half.
After whisking in the wine, reduce the liquid to a glossy glaze.
How it's used
This means “make smaller”
- reduce costs
“reduce them.”
The airline plans to reduce ticket prices next month.
Collocations
- reduce emissions
- reduce the risk
- greatly reduce
- drastically reduce
- reduce to tears
- reduce to rubble
- reduce by half