Lower vs Reduce - What's the difference?
lower | reduce | Synonyms |
(low)
bottom; more towards the bottom than the middle of an object
(geology, of strata or geological time periods) older
To let descend by its own weight, as something suspended; to let down
to pull down
To reduce the height of
To depress as to direction
To make less elevated
To reduce the degree, intensity, strength, etc., of
To bring down; to humble
(reflexive) (lower oneself ) To humble oneself; to do something one considers to be beneath one's dignity.
To reduce (something) in value, amount, etc.
To fall; to sink; to grow less; to diminish; to decrease
To decrease in value, amount, etc.
To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower, to impair.
* to reduce weight, speed, heat, expenses, price, personnel etc.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=Stephen Ledoux
, title=Behaviorism at 100
, volume=100, issue=1, page=60
, magazine=
To lose weight.
To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
* to reduce a sergeant to the ranks
* An ancient but reduced family. --.
* Nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon something belonging to it, 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 . --.
*
To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.
* to reduce a province or a fort
To bring to an inferior state or condition.
* to reduce a city to ashes
(cooking) To decrease the liquid content of food by boiling much of its water off.
(chemistry) To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.
(metallurgy) To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
(mathematics) To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
(legal) To convert to written form (Usage note: this verb almost always take the phrase "to writing").
* It is important that all business contracts be reduced to writing.
(medicine) To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
(military) To reform a line or column from (a square).
Reduce is a antonym of lower.
Reduce is a synonym of lower.
In transitive terms the difference between lower and reduce
is that lower is to reduce (something) in value, amount, etc while reduce is to bring to an inferior state or condition.In intransitive terms the difference between lower and reduce
is that lower is to decrease in value, amount, etc while reduce is to lose weight.As an adjective lower
is comparative of low.As an adverb lower
is comparative of low POS=adverb.lower
English
Etymology 1
From (low) +Adjective
(head)Antonyms
* (more low) higher * (bottom) upper * (older) upperAdverb
(head)Verb
(en verb)- lower a bucket into a well
- to lower a sail of a boat
- to lower a flag
- Lowered softly with a threefold cord of love / Down to a silent grave. .
- lower a fence or wall
- lower a chimney or turret
- lower the aim of a gun
- to lower one's ambition, aspirations, or hopes
- lower the temperature
- lower one's vitality
- lower distilled liquors
- lower one's pride
- I could never lower myself enough to buy second-hand clothes.
- lower the price of goods
- lower the interest rate
- The river lowered as rapidly as it rose.
Synonyms
* bring down * shorten * * reduce * reduce, turn down * * be humble * cut, reduce * die off, drop, fall, fall off, shrink * become/get smaller, become/get lower, lessen, reduceEtymology 2
Statistics
*reduce
English
Verb
citation, passage=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.}}
- Neither [Jones] nor I (in 1966) could conceive of reducing our "science" to the ultimate absurdity of reading Finnish newspapers almost a century and a half old in order to establish "priority."