reduction

From Middle English reduccion, a borrowing from Old French reducion, from Latin reductiō, reductiōnem.

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈdʌkʃən/
• Rhymes: -ʌkʃən
• Hyphenation: re‧duc‧tion

reduction (countable and uncountable, plural reductions)

1. The act, process, or result of reducing.
2. The amount or rate by which something is reduced, e.g. in price.

   A 5% reduction in robberies

3. (chemistry) A reaction in which electrons are gained and valence is reduced; often by the removal of oxygen or the addition of hydrogen.
4. (cooking) The process of rapidly boiling a sauce to concentrate it.
5. (mathematics) The rewriting of an expression into a simpler form.
6. (computability theory) a transformation of one problem into another problem, such as mapping reduction or polynomial reduction.
7. (music) An arrangement for a far smaller number of parties, e.g. a keyboard solo based on a full opera.
8. (philosophy, phenomenology) A philosophical procedure intended to reveal the objects of consciousness as pure phenomena. (See phenomenological reduction.)
9. (medicine) A medical procedure to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.

• (act, process, or result of reducing): decline, lessening; See also Thesaurus:diminution
• (amount by which something is reduced): extract, reduction; See also Thesaurus:decrement

• (act, process, or result of reducing): elevation, expansion, increase, promotion; See also Thesaurus:augmentation
• (amount by which something is reduced): addition, supplement; See also Thesaurus:adjunct
• (chemistry): oxidation

• introduce