Reduce Reduced B C Change Sth Verb Form

re·duce
\\ri-ˈdüs, -ˈdyüs\\ verb
(re·duced ; re·duc·ing)transitive verb
1.
  a. to draw together or cause to converge :

consolidate

      reduce all the questions to one
  b.
    (1) to diminish in size, amount, extent, or number
       reduce taxes
       reduce the likelihood of war
    (2) to decrease the volume and concentrate the flavor of by boiling
       add the wine and reduce the sauce for two minutes
  c. to narrow down :

restrict

      the Indians were reduced to small reservations
  d. to make shorter :

abridge

2. archaic : to restore to righteousness :
3. to bring to a specified state or condition
    the impact of the movie reduced them to tears
4.
  a. to force to capitulate
  b.

force

,

compel

5.
  a. to bring to a systematic form or character
      reduce natural events to laws
  b. to put down in written or printed form
      reduce an agreement to writing
6. to correct (as a fracture) by bringing displaced or broken parts back into their normal positions
7.
  a. to lower in grade or rank :

demote

  b. to lower in condition or status :

downgrade

8.
  a. to diminish in strength or density
  b. to diminish in value
9.
  a.
    (1) to change the denominations or form of without changing the value
    (2) to construct a geometrical figure similar to but smaller than (a given figure)
  b. to transpose from one form into another :

convert

  c. to change (an expression) to an equivalent but more fundamental expression
      reduce a fraction
10. to break down (as by crushing or grinding) :

pulverize

11.
  a. to bring to the metallic state by removal of nonmetallic elements
      reduce an ore by heat
  b.
  c. to combine with or subject to the action of hydrogen
  d.
    (1) to change (an element or ion) from a higher to a lower oxidation state
    (2) to add one or more electrons to (an atom or ion or molecule)
12. to change (a stressed vowel) to an unstressed vowel
intransitive verb
1.
  a.
    (1) to become diminished or lessened; especially : to lose weight by dieting
    (2) to become reduced
       ferrous iron reduces to ferric iron
  b. to become concentrated or consolidated
  c. to undergo meiosis
2. to become converted or equated
Synonyms: see ,
• re·duc·er noun
• re·duc·ibil·i·ty \\-ˌdü-sə-ˈbi-lə-tē, -ˌdyü-\\ noun
• re·duc·ible \\-ˈdü-sə-bəl, -ˈdyü-\\ adjective
• re·duc·ibly \\-blē\\ adverb

reduce
  late 14c., "bring back," from O.Fr. reducer (14c.), from L. reducere, from re- "back" + ducere "bring, lead" (see duke). Sense of "to lower, diminish, lessen" is from 1787. Etymological sense preserved in military reduce to ranks (1640s). Reduction is attested from late 15c.; reductionism in philosophy is recorded from 1948.

☞ reduce
re·duce / ri5dju:s; NAmE -5du:s / verb1. [VN] ~ sth (from sth) (to sth) | ~ sth (by sth) to make sth less or smaller in size, quantity, price, etc.
   减少,缩小(尺寸、数量、价格等):
   Reduce speed now (= on a sign).
   减速行驶。
   Costs have been reduced by 20% over the past year.
   过去一年,各项费用已经减少了 20%。
   Giving up smoking reduces the risk of heart disease.
   戒烟会减少得心脏病的风险。
   The number of employees was reduced from 40 to 25.
   雇员人数从 40 人减少到了 25 人。
   The skirt was reduced to £10 in the sale.
   在大减价期间,这条裙子减价到 10 英镑。
2. [VN , V] if you reduce a liquid or a liquid reduces, you boil it so that it becomes less in quantity
   (使)蒸发
3. [V] (NAmE, informal) to lose weight by limiting the amount and type of food that you eat
   减轻体重；节食:
   a reducing plan
   节食计划
4. [VN] (chemistry 化) to add one or more

electrons

to a substance or to remove

oxygen

from a substance
   使还原；去氧；脱氧
⇨ compare

oxidize

 IDIOMS 
▪ re7duced 'circumstances
   the state of being poorer than you were before. People say 'living in reduced circumstances' to avoid saying 'poor'.
   (委婉说法,与 poor 同义)境况不济
 PHRASAL VERBS 
▪ re'duce sb / sth (from sth) to sth / to doing sth [usually passive]
   to force sb / sth into a particular state or condition, usually a worse one
   使陷入(更坏的)境地；使沦落；使陷入窘境:
   a beautiful building reduced to rubble
   已化为残垣断壁的漂亮建筑
   She was reduced to tears by their criticisms.
   他们的批评使她流下了眼泪。
   They were reduced to begging in the streets.
   他们沦落到沿街乞讨。
▪ re'duce sth to sth
   to change sth to a more general or more simple form
   将…概括成(或简化为):
   We can reduce the problem to two main issues.
   我们可以将这个问题概括成两个要点。

reduce verb

re·duce
\rə̇ˈd(y)üs, rēˈ-\ verb
(-ed/-ing/-s)
Etymology: Middle English reducen to lead back, bring back, draw together, from Latin reducere, from re- + ducere to lead — more at
transitive verb
1.
 a. : to draw together or cause to converge : ,
  < for the sake of brevity I reduce all their questions to one — Arnold Isenberg >
  < all springs reduce their currents to my eyes — Shakespeare >
 b.
  (1) : to diminish in size, amount, extent, or number : make smaller : ,
   < the highway, here reduced to a street — G.R.Stewart >
   < reduce excise rates on automobiles — Wall Street Journal >
   < abolition of aggressive weapons would … reduce the likelihood of aggressive war — R.L.Buell >
   < a safety campaign to reduce forest fires >
   < a diet to reduce weight >
  (2) : to decrease the volume and concentrate the flavor of (as a gravy) by boiling off excess liquid
  (3) : to concentrate or decrease the volume of (as crude petroleum) by removing light hydrocarbons by distillation
   < the residue or topped crude oil is further reduced — W.L.Nelson & A.P.Buthod >
 c. : to narrow down : , ,
  < when we know more about the capacities of man, we do not reduce them, but expand them — A.H.Compton >
  < the Indians were reduced to a small fragment of their former domain — E.M.Coulter >
 d. : to make shorter or divest of nonessentials : ,
  < great body of religious lyrics … skillfully reduced and edited — H.S.Bennett >
  < double ax-head occurring among the hieroglyphic forms reduced to a linear outline — Edward Clodd >
2. archaic
 a. : to lead back : cause to return
  < reduce the Protestants within the pale of the Romish Church — Nicholas Tindal >
 b. : to restore to righteousness :
  < if any of these erring men may be reduced, I have my end — John Milton >
3.
 a. obsolete :
  < with these words reduce they thoughts that roam — William Austin >
 b. obsolete : to bring back
  < reduce, replant our bishop president — Edward Dering >
 c. : to bring to a specified state or condition by guidance or leadership
  < his task was to reduce to order the economic and political chaos following war — W.L.Fleming >
4. archaic
 a. : to cause to recur
  < traitors … that would reduce these bloody days again — Shakespeare >
 b. : to restore to a former condition
  < reduce them to their former shape — Jonathan Swift >
5.
 a.
  (1) : to force to capitulate : bring under control : ,
   < after a long seige he reduced Alexandria — Encyc. Americana >
   < a pioneer … reducing the savage wilderness for civilization — D.B.Davis >
   < about thirty years ago the aboriginal tribes of the interior were reduced — E.P.Hanson >
  (2) : to wipe out (an enemy position) : ,
   < reduce a salient >
   < reduce a machine gun nest >
 b. : to make captive or hand over
  < helped reduce the New Amsterdam Dutch to English control — R.P.Stearns >
 c.
  (1) : to put under obligation : ,
   < one passage so painful that he was reduced to explain it by the arts of … wizards — G.G.Coulton >
  (2) : to force to resort
   < were reduced to the knee holds and body clings detested by all mountaineers — D.L.Busk >
  (3) : to cause to succumb
   < a scene that had reduced his wife to tears — Scott Fitzgerald >
   < his exaggerated stories had reduced the patrons to openmouthed credulity — American Guide Series: Pennsylvania >
 d. obsolete : to make more temperate :
  < it was necessary … their tempers be reduced by my kindness — Daniel Defoe >
 e. : to cause to revert to one's possession by exercising a legal claim
6.
 a. : to assign to or describe in terms of fundamental classification
  < attempt to reduce life, mind, and spirit to the quantitative categories of physics, chemistry, and mathematics — W.R.Inge >
 b. : to bring to a systematic form or character — used with to
  < system of nature, which it is the business of science to study and reduce to laws — C.H.Whiteley >
 c. : to endow with a definite shape
  < the idea … was reduced to exact form — Graham Wallas >
 d. : to transfer to or as if to paper — used with to
  < reduce to writing his notions regarding the ideal bird dog — W.F.Brown b.1903 >
7.
 a. : to put back (as a herniated mass) into place
 b. : to restore (as elevated blood pressure) to a normal condition
 c. : to set (as a fracture) by restoring misplaced parts to a normal position
8.
 a. chiefly Scots law : ,
 b. : to lower in grade or rank :
  < reduced from cruiser command to an inconspicuous post in the merchant marine because of … political differences — Lee Rogow >
9.
 a. : to lower in condition or status : ,
  < at storekeeping he was a failure, and … was soon reduced to poverty — H.E.Starr >
  < an old Crusader … reduced to menial work — T.B.Costain >
  < historical reporting … reduces the novel to a news supplement — Allen Tate >
 b. : to be driven by poverty or deficiency
  < reduced to going about the … villages soliciting alms — J.G.Frazer >
  < radicals … who used to speak of Russia as a land of hope are now reduced to saying that it is no worse than any other country — Zechariah Chafee >
 c. : to make physically weak
  < my father was so reduced, that I … made a bed for him on the deck — Charles Dickens >
 d. : to diminish in strength or density
  < rising sun quickly reduced the fog >
 as
  (1) : to dilute (as a paint) with a thinner
  (2) : to extend (as a pigment) with an inert extender or pigment
  (3) : to make (a photographic negative) less dense
 e. : to diminish in value
  < stocks have been reduced to a low level — Collier's Year Book >
10.
 a.
  (1) : to change the denominations of without changing the value
   < reduce days and hours to minutes >
  (2) : to change the form of (an arithmetical expression) without changing the value
   < reduce fractions to a common denominator >
  (3) : to construct a geometrical figure similar to but smaller than (a given figure)
 b. : to transpose from one form into another : ,
  < given … credit for reducing time to space — N.E.Nelson >
  < reduce disputes about ideas and values to factual, sociological terms — Cushing Strout >
  < reduce government regulations to plain language >
 c.
  (1) : to change (an expression) from a form that is given to another that is equivalent but considered to be more fundamental or important
   < reducing all sentential connectives to the stroke function >
  (2) : to change (a syllogism) to a mood in the first figure
11.
 a. : to break down (as by crushing, grinding, or burning) : cause to disintegrate :
  < breaker rolls … reduce the wheat kernels to middlings — American Guide Series: Minnesota >
  < tree stumps left on a clearing … are reduced by swarms of ants — C.D.Forde >
  < a recent earthquake reduced the cathedral of Cuzco almost to a heap of rubble — Angélica Mendoza >
 b. archaic : to cause (a military unit) to disperse :
 c. : to separate into commercially usable elements
  < reduce trees to lumber >
  < reduce pilchards into oil and meal >
 d. : to treat (garbage) so as to recover grease and other products
12.
 a. : to bring to the metallic state by removal of nonmetallic elements
  < iron ores are reduced to metallic iron >
  < metals are reduced from their ores >
  — compare
 b. :
  < reduce anthraquinone to anthracene >
 c. : to combine with or subject to the action of hydrogen :
  < acetaldehyde is reduced to alcohol in the final step of alcoholic fermentation >
 d. : to change (a compound) by decreasing the proportion of the electronegative part
  < reduce mercuric chloride to mercurous chloride >
  : change (an element or ion) from a higher to a lower oxidation state
  < in electrolysis, ferric ions are reduced to ferrous ions at the cathode — Farrington Daniels & R.A.Alberty >
  : add one or more electrons to (an atom or ion or molecule)
  < reduce ionic copper to metallic copper >
  — opposed to oxidize
13. : to transform to actuality
 < faces the task of reducing theory to a course of instruction — J.R.Butler >
14.
 a.
  (1) : to use an unstressed vowel (as \ə\) or no vowel at all instead of (a stressed vowel)
  (2) : to make such alteration in (a syllable)
 b. : to cause the loss of a member from (a series of consonants or vowels)
intransitive verb
1.
 a. : to become diminished or lessened; especially : to lose weight by dieting
  < no more, thanks, I'm reducing >
 b. : to become concentrated
  < let the stock reduce, strain … and keep hot — Roger Angell >
 c. : to undergo meiosis
 d. : to become consolidated
  < the number 53, which is composed of 5 and 3, reduces to the primate number 8 — W.B.Gibson >
2. : to become converted or equated
 < romanticism and classicism … reduce in the end to differences of psychological type — Herbert Read >
3. : to become weakened or diluted
 < poster paints reduce with water >
4. : to undergo processing especially for commercial purposes
 < canneries send a stink of reducing fish into the air — John Steinbeck >

Synonyms: see ,