reduce
re·duce [reduce reduces reduced reducing] BrE [rɪˈdjuːs] NAmE [rɪˈduːs] verb
1. transitive to make sth less or smaller in size, quantity, price, etc
•~ sth Reduce speed now (= on a sign).
• Giving up smoking reduces the risk of heart disease.
•~ sth by sth Costs have been reduced by 20% over the past year.
•~ sth (from sth) (to sth) The number of employees was reduced from 40 to 25.
•The skirt was reduced to £10 in the sale.
2. transitive, intransitive ~ (sth) if you reduce a liquid or a liquid reduces, you boil it so that it becomes less in quantity
3. intransitive (NAmE, informal)to lose weight by limiting the amount and type of food that you eat
•a reducing plan
4. transitive ~ sth (chemistry)to add one or more ↑electrons to a substance or to remove ↑oxygen from a substance
compare ↑oxidize
Idiom: ↑reduced circumstances
Derived: ↑reduce somebody to to doing something ▪ ↑reduce something to something
Verb forms: 
Word Origin:
late Middle English: from Latin reducere, from re- ‘back, again’ + ducere ‘bring, lead’. The original sense was ‘bring back’ ; this led to ‘bring to a different state’, then ‘bring to a simpler or lower state’ (hence sense 2); and finally ‘diminish in size or amount’ (sense 1, dating from the late 18th cent.).
Thesaurus:
reduce verb T
•Costs have been reduced by 20% over the past year.
cut • • lower • • cut sth back/cut back on sth • • cut sth down/cut down on sth • • bring sth down • • discount • • minimize • • turn sth down • |formal decrease • |especially AmE business scale sth back • |journalism slash •
Opp: increase
reduce/cut/lower/cut back/cut down/bring down/decrease/scale back/slash sth from 100 to 75
reduce/cut/lower/cut back/cut down/bring down/discount/decrease/scale back/slash sth by half, 50, etc.
reduce/cut/lower/cut back (on)/cut down (on)/bring down/minimize/decrease/slash the number/amount/level/cost of sth
Example Bank:
•I noticed that my belly had drastically reduced in size.
•Legislation progressively reduced the number of situations in which industrial action could be taken.
•Pollution from the works has been reduced by 70 per cent.
•The price is reduced from 99 cents to 85 cents.
•The risks must be reduced to the absolute minimum.
•We need to reduce the speed slightly.
•Costs have been reduced by 20% over the past year.
•Reduce speed now.
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