reducer

American  

[ri-doo-ser, -dyoo-] / rɪˈdu sər, -ˈdju- /

noun

• reducers
  plural

1. a person or thing that reduces.

2. Photography.

   1. an oxidizing solution for lessening the density of an exposed negative.

   2. a developing agent.

3. (in plumbing) a coupling decreasing in diameter at one end.

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reducer British  

/ rɪˈdjuːsə /

noun

1. photog a chemical solution used to lessen the density of a negative or print by oxidizing some of the blackened silver to soluble silver compounds Compare intensifier

2. a pipe fitting connecting two pipes of different diameters

3. a person or thing that reduces

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antireducer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• reducers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of reducer

First recorded in 1520–30; reduce + -er ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reducer reducers

Leaders generally prefer to keep employees where they can see them, but it is possible to spin remote work as a headache reducer for your would-be manager.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026

Participating in Veganuary also appears to shift people's identity from seeing themselves as a meat eater to more of a "meat reducer" or "meat excluder".

From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2025

The plant contains dozens of bioactive chemical compounds and is used throughout Southeast Asia and China as a painkiller, fever reducer, and diuretic.

From Science Magazine ● May 1, 2024

Acetaminophen is considered the safest over-the-counter pain reliever and fever reducer available during pregnancy.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 3, 2024

A twenty-mile ride in Bill's tonneau is better as a flesh reducer than ten hours in a Turkish bath.

From Still Jim by Honoré Morrow

They may be the companies supplying actuators, reducers, sensors, machine vision, batteries, motion-control systems and industrial software.

From MarketWatch ● May 27, 2026

The components include sensors, so-called coreless motors that power precise high-speed movements and speed reducers often used in joints to mimic human motions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026

China, for example, controls 80% of the basic ingredients that go into antibiotics and fever reducers and controls roughly half of global production of printed circuit boards.

From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025

Glen Calder expected a shipment of gearbox reducers needed to build a particular model of his company's paving machines last week.

From Reuters ● Dec. 23, 2022

Shuey was so much the most successful of Mrs. Ellis' reducers that his words were weighty.

From Stories That End Well An Adventure in Altruria——Through the Terrors of the Law——The Real Thing——The Old Partisan——Max—Or His Picture——The Stout Miss Hopkins' Bicycle——The Spellbinder——The Object of the Federation——The Little Lonely Girl——The Hero of Company G——A Miracle Play by Octave Thanet

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