different between reduce vs mollify

English

Etymology

From Middle English reducen, from Old French reducer, from Latin red?c? (“reduce”); from re- (“back”) + d?c? (“lead”). See duke, and compare with redoubt.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???dju?s/, /???d?u?s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???du?s/
• Rhymes: -u?s

Verb

reduce (third-person singular simple present reduces, present participle reducing, simple past and past participle reduced)

1. (transitive) To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower.
2. (intransitive) To lose weight.
3. (transitive) To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
   • 1815, Walter Scott, Guy Mannering

     My father, the eldest son of an ancient but reduced family, left me with little.

   • a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Folly of Scoffing at Religion

     nothing so excellent but a man may falten upon something or other belonging to it whereby to reduce it .

   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes

     Having reduced their foe to misery beneath their fears.

   • Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced.
4. (transitive) To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.

5. (transitive) To bring to an inferior state or condition.

6. (transitive, cooking) To decrease the liquid content of food by boiling much of its water off.
   • 2011, Edward Behr and James MacGuire, The Art of Eating Cookbook: Essential Recipes from the First 25 Years.

     Serve the oxtails with mustard or a sauce made by reducing the soup, if any is left, to a slightly thick sauce.

7. (transitive, chemistry) To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.
8. (transitive, metallurgy) To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
9. (transitive, mathematics) To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
10. (transitive, computer science) To express the solution of a problem in terms of another (known) algorithm.
11. (transitive, logic) To convert a syllogism to a clearer or simpler form
12. (transitive, law) To convert to written form. (Usage note: this verb almost always appears as "reduce to writing".)

13. (transitive, medicine) To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
14. (transitive, military) To reform a line or column from (a square).
15. (transitive, military) To strike off the payroll.
16. (transitive, Scotland, law) To annul by legal means.
17. (transitive, obsolete) To translate (a book, document, etc.).

Synonyms

• (to bring down): cut, decrease, lower
• (cooking): inspissate; see also Thesaurus:thicken

Antonyms

• (to bring down): increase

Related terms

Translations

See also

• reducing agent

References

• reduce in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin redux (“that returns”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?r?.du.t??e/

Adjective

reduce (plural reduci) (da)

1. returning (from)

   Synonym: ritornato

Noun

reduce m or f (plural reduci)

1. survivor

   Synonym: sopravvissuto

2. veteran (of a conflict)

   Synonyms: veterano, ex combattente

Anagrams

• ducere

Latin

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /re?du?.ke/, [r??d?u?k?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /re?du.t??e/, [r??d?u?t???]

Verb

red?ce

1. second-person singular present active imperative of red?c?

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?re.du.ke/, [?r?d??k?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?re.du.t??e/, [?r??d?ut???]
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?re.du.ke/, [?r?d??k?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?re.du.t??e/, [?r??d?ut???]

Adjective

r?duce

1. ablative masculine singular of r??dux
2. ablative feminine singular of r??dux
3. ablative neuter singular of r??dux

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin reducere, French réduire, based on duce. Compare the inherited doublet ar?duce.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /re?dut?e/, [re??d?ut?e?]

Verb

a reduce (third-person singular present reduce, past participle redus) 3rd conj.

1. (transitive) to reduce, to lessen

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

• duce

See also

• ar?duce

Spanish

Verb

reduce

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of reducir.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of reducir.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of reducir.

English

Alternative forms

• mollifie

Etymology

From Middle English mollifien, from Late Latin mollific?, from Latin mollis (“soft”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?l?fa?/

Verb

mollify (third-person singular simple present mollifies, present participle mollifying, simple past and past participle mollified)

1. To ease a burden, particularly worry; make less painful; to comfort.
   • 1893, Henry George, The Condition of Labor: An Open Letter to Pope Leo XIII, p. 104:

     All that charity can do where injustice exists is here and there to somewhat mollify the effects of injustice.

   • 1997, A Government Reinvented: A Study of Alberta's Deficit Elimination Program, p. 408:

     The draft Charter School Handbook issued in November 1994 sought to mollify concerns over teacher quality, if not ATA membership, by requiring teacher certification.

2. To appease (anger), pacify, gain the good will of.
   • 1867, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, chapter 2:

     Although this invitation was accompanied with a curtsey that might have softened the heart of a church-warden, it by no means mollified the beadle.

   • 1916, L. Frank Baum, Rinkitink in Oz, chapter 5:

     The angry goat was quite mollified by the respectful tone in which he was addressed.

   • 2016 January 31, "Is Huma Abedin Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon or Her Next Big Problem?," Vanity Fair (retrieved 21 January 2016):

     But these answers did not mollify Grassley. Specifically, he objected to Abedin’s becoming an S.G.E., because he believed she provided no irreplaceable expertise and therefore her designation as one had violated Congress’s intent when it created the program, in 1962.

3. To soften; to make tender
   • 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book III, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 113:

     "Nor is it any more difficulty for him to mollifie what is hard, then it is to harden what is so soft and fluid as the Aire."

   • 1724, William Burkitt, Expository Notes, with Practical Observations on the New Testament, p. 102:

     By thy kindness thou wilt melt and mollify his spirit towards thee, as hardest metals are melted by coals of fire …

Synonyms

• (to ease a burden): assuage, calm, comfort, mitigate, soothe
• (to appease): appease, conciliate, pacify, placate, propitiate, satisfy
• (to soften): soften, soften up, tenderize, temper, anneal, deharden, distemper
• See also Thesaurus:calm

Related terms

• emollient
• mollification

Translations