Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

Definition of reduce verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

 Oxford3000

reduce

verb
reduce pronunciation English rɪˈdjuːs reduce pronunciation American rɪˈduːs
 
1 [transitive] to make something less or smaller in size, quantity, price, etcreduce something Reduce speed now (= on a sign).Giving up smoking reduces the risk of heart disease.reduce something by something Costs have been reduced by 20% over the past year.reduce something (from something) (to something) The number of employees was reduced from 40 to 25.The skirt was reduced to £10 in the sale.2 [transitive, intransitive] reduce (something) if you reduce a liquid or a liquid reduces, you boil it so that it becomes less in quantity3 [intransitive] (North American English, informal) to lose weight by limiting the amount and type of food that you eata reducing plan4 [transitive] reduce something (chemistry) to add one or more electrons to a substance or to remove oxygen from a substance compare oxidize
Idioms

reduced circumstances

the state of being poorer than you were before. People say ‘living in reduced circumstances’ to avoid saying ‘poor’.
Phrasal verbs

reduce somebody/something (from something) to something/to doing something

[usually passive] to force somebody/something into a particular state or condition, usually a worse onea beautiful building reduced to rubbleShe was reduced to tears by their criticisms.They were reduced to begging in the streets.

reduce something to something

to change something to a more general or more simple formWe can reduce the problem to two main issues.