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say it: ruh-DOOS
reduce is a verb meaning "cut down on; make a reduction in". It carries 20 recorded senses.
simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another
mathematics
lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation
“She reduced her niece to a servant”
reduce in size; reduce physically
“Hot water will shrink the sweater”
“Can you shrink this image?”
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
chemistry
reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site
reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
“The manuscript must be shortened”
be cooked until very little liquid is left
“The sauce should reduce to one cup”
cooking
cook until very little liquid is left
“The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time”
cooking
take off weight
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for reduce come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.