reduce

(verb) cut down on; make a reduction in. Synonyms: cut down, cut back, trim, trim down, trim back, cut, bring down. Examples: "Reduce your daily fat intake." "The employer wants to cut back health benefits."

(verb) make less complex. Examples: "Reduce a problem to a single question."

(verb) bring to humbler or weaker state or condition. Examples: "He reduced the population to slavery."

(verb) simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another.

(verb) lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation. Examples: "She reduced her niece to a servant."

(verb) be the essential element. Synonyms: come down, boil down. Examples: "The proposal boils down to a compromise."

(verb) reduce in size; reduce physically. Synonyms: shrink. Examples: "Hot water will shrink the sweater." "Can you shrink this image?."

(verb) lessen and make more modest. Examples: "Reduce one's standard of living."

(verb) make smaller. Synonyms: scale down. Examples: "Reduce an image."

(verb) 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. Synonyms: deoxidize, deoxidise.

(verb) narrow or limit. Synonyms: tighten. Examples: "Reduce the influx of foreigners."

(verb) put down by force or intimidation. Synonyms: repress, quash, keep down, subdue, subjugate. Examples: "The government quashes any attempt of an uprising." "China keeps down her dissidents very efficiently." "The rich landowners subjugated the peasants working the land."

(verb) undergo meiosis. Examples: "The cells reduce."

(verb) reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site.

(verb) destress and thus weaken a sound when pronouncing it.

(verb) reduce in scope while retaining essential elements. Synonyms: abridge, foreshorten, abbreviate, shorten, cut, contract. Examples: "The manuscript must be shortened."

(verb) be cooked until very little liquid is left. Synonyms: boil down, decoct, concentrate. Examples: "The sauce should reduce to one cup."

(verb) cook until very little liquid is left. Synonyms: boil down, concentrate. Examples: "The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time."

(verb) lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture. Synonyms: dilute, thin, thin out, cut. Examples: "Cut bourbon."

(verb) take off weight. Synonyms: melt off, lose weight, slim, slenderize, thin, slim down.