EN

Synonyms for reduce

78 synonyms
33 antonyms
4 meanings

verb

Most common

lessen decrease diminish minimize bring down subdue degrade cut

Synonyms by meaning

Verb

1. Lessen — to bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower

lessen, decrease, diminish, minimize, minimise UK, lower, abate, limit, alleviate, weaken, curtail, attenuate, ease, impair, shrink, allay, moderate, relax, retrench, belittle, slacken, rebate, bate

2. Bring down — to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture

bring down, subdue, bring, bring to, keep down, vanquish, subjugate, overcome, decimate, quell, restrain, overpower, defeat, conquer, quash, repress, surmount, prostrate, master

3. Degrade — to bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote

degrade, take down, depress, impoverish, demote, relegate, discredit, demean, depreciate, downgrade, humiliate, humble, disparage, sink slang dated, debase dated, abase dated

4. Cut

cut, cut down, cut back, cut short, knock down, trim down, trim, crop

Other

shorten, abbreviate, dilute, make, contract, slim down, condense, scale down, abridge, compress, come down, concentrate

Antonyms

increase, add, raise

All antonyms of reduce →

Definitions

v. 1
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.
v. 2
To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
to reduce a sergeant to the ranks
v. 3
To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.
to reduce a province or a fort
v. 4
To lose weight.

Related words

Word family: reducer reductant reduction reductive

Forms

Past participle: reduced
e.g. reduced → lessened, decreased, diminished, minimized…

Example sentences

decrease A significant decrease in temperature is expected.
minimize I want to minimize the chances of another accident.
diminish This doesn't give him the right to diminish Muslims.
lessen We had to lessen the impact of the erratic supplies.
subdue The police used tear gas to subdue the protestors.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
reduce		steady
decrease		falling
minimize		steady
diminish		steady
lessen		falling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: cut¹
4 letters: make¹, ease¹, sink¹, crop¹, trim¹, bate¹
5 letters: bring¹, lower², limit², relax², quell¹, quash¹, abate², allay², abase
6 letters: master², defeat², humble², shrink¹, weaken², lessen², rebate², dilute², subdue², impair², demean², demote², debase²
7 letters: conquer², shorten², degrade², curtail², depress², repress², slacken², abridge²
8 letters: contract², moderate³, overcome³, decrease², minimize³, diminish³, restrain², minimise, compress², belittle³, condense², vanquish², decimate³, relegate³
9 letters: alleviate⁴, discredit³, downgrade², humiliate⁴, overpower⁴, prostrate², disparage³, subjugate³, attenuate⁴
10 letters: depreciate⁴, abbreviate⁴, impoverish³
11 letters: concentrate³

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (lower² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: réduire
Español: reducir
Deutsch: reduzieren
Català: reduir