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

Etymology

Origin of reducer

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

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

Reduction should take place gradually, and this is best accomplished with a weak reducer.

From Bromide Printing and Enlarging A Practical Guide to the Making of Bromide Prints by Contact and Bromide Enlarging by Daylight and Artificial Light, With the Toning of Bromide Prints and Enlargements by John A. Tennant

The first winners 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

But it doesn’t have to be especially so if you — and the stressed-out loved ones in your orbit — have an arsenal of stress relievers, anxiety reducers and mood lifters at the ready.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2023

Boston power transmission products from stock, gears, speed reducers.

From U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1961 January - June by Library of Congress. Copyright Office