reduce

1. V-T If you reduce something, you make it smaller in size or amount, or less in degree. 使變小

It reduces the risks of heart disease. 它減小了犯心髒病的危險。

2. V-T If someone is reduced to a weaker or inferior state, they become weaker or inferior as a result of something that happens to them. 使陷入[usu passive]

They were reduced to extreme poverty. 他們淪落到極度貧睏的地步。

3. V-T If you say that someone is reduced to doing something, you mean that they have to do it, although it is unpleasant or embarrassing. 迫使[usu passive]

He was reduced to begging for a living. 他不得不以乞討爲生。

4. V-T If something is changed to a different or less complicated form, you can say that it is reduced to that form. 使變成; 使簡化爲[usu passive]

All the buildings in the town have been reduced to rubble. 鎮上所有的建築都變成了瓦礫。

5. V-T/V-I If you reduce liquid when you are cooking, or if it reduces, it is boiled in order to make it less in quantity and thicker. 使變稠; 收汁

Boil the liquid in a small saucepan to reduce it by half. 在小燉鍋中煮沸湯汁使其收到一半的量。

6. PHRASE If someone or something reduces you to tears, they make you feel so unhappy that you cry. 使…流淚

The attentions of the media reduced her to tears. 媒躰的關注使她流下了眼淚。