reduce

verb

1. (transitive)To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower.

   “to reduce weight, speed, heat, expenses, price, personnel etc.”

   “Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.”

   “Most train operators have reduced services with emergency timetables, as they struggle to cope with a rapid increase in staff absences due to the Omicron variant of COVID.”

   “Drivers like the idea of increasing traffic flow and reducing congestion on the portion of I-80 between Davis and West Sacramento.”

2. (intransitive)To lose weight.
3. (transitive)To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.

   “to reduce a sergeant to the ranks”

   “My father, the eldest son of an ancient but reduced family, left me with little.”

   “nothing so excellent but a man may falten upon something or other belonging to it whereby to reduce it .”

   “Having reduced their foe to misery beneath their fears.”

   “Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced.”

4. (transitive)To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.

   “to reduce a province or a fort”

5. (transitive)To bring to an inferior state or condition.

   “to reduce a city to ashes”

6. (transitive)To be forced by circumstances (into something one considers unworthy).

   “reduced to silence”

   “The press release calls him "the hottest female impressionist in show business today." (One wonders how many more words press agents will have to come up with before they are reduced to actually saying "drag queen.")”

7. (transitive)To decrease the liquid content of (a food) by boiling much of its water off.

   “Serve the oxtails with mustard or a sauce made by reducing the soup, if any is left, to a slightly thick sauce.”

8. (transitive)To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.

   “Formaldehyde can be reduced to form methanol.”

9. (transitive)To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
10. (transitive)To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
11. (transitive)To express the solution of a problem in terms of another (known) algorithm.
12. (transitive)To convert a syllogism to a clearer or simpler form.
13. (transitive)To convert to written form. (Usage note: this verb almost always appears as "reduce to writing".)

    “It is important that all business contracts be reduced to writing.”

14. (transitive)To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
15. (transitive)To reform a line or column from (a square).
16. (transitive)To strike off the payroll.
17. (transitive)To annul by legal means.
18. (transitive)To pronounce (a sound or word) with less effort.

    “The first vowel of support is reduced to schwa by most English speakers.”

19. (obsolete, transitive)To translate (a book, document, etc.).

    “a book reduced into English”