reductionist

American  

[ri-duhk-shuh-nist] / rɪˈdʌk ʃəˌnɪst /

adjective

1. based on or explained by an analysis of the simplest or most basic factors of a complex phenomenon.

   A reductionist experiment is essential to isolating the impact of a single variable on the ecosystem as a whole.

2. simplistic to the point of minimizing, obscuring, or distorting a complex idea, issue, or condition.

   Both stories describe the same reality, but your reductionist version fails to capture the full truth.

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noun

1. a person who believes that everything can be explained by reducing complex ideas or issues to their simplest component parts.

   To reductionists, all other worldviews are unscientific and sloppy, so they often choose to ignore evidence from observational studies.

Other Word Forms

• reductionistic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of reductionist

reduction ( def. ) + -ist ( def. )

Explanation

If someone believes that you can break complex theories into simple, smaller parts, you can call that person a reductionist. A reductionist might explain religion, for example, as simply an attempt to explain why the world exists. When you describe someone as a reductionist, you are explaining that person's philosophical stance on something — it might be science, human behavior, history, or religion. The preference for simplifying, especially when it involves breaking complicated ideas into smaller, less complicated ideas, is reductionist. This philosophical idea has been around since the 1940s, and the word itself stems from the Latin reducere, "bring back."

Example Sentences

The authors emphasize the need to move away from "reductionist" thinking and toward "integrated strategies."

From Science Daily • Apr. 10, 2026

"He wanted somebody whose mind wasn't messed up by the reductionist attitude of science to animals," she said.

From BBC • Oct. 1, 2025

Some challenges have lately emerged to this reductionist paradigm.

From Scientific American • Nov. 7, 2023

This is what we call a reductionist approach to nutrition, where we describe a food based on just one of its key components.

From Salon • Jan. 17, 2023

“Now, the witch doesn’t take kindly to this perspective. Personally, I don’t blame her. It’s reductionist, it’s elitist, and it’s just plain icky. So the witch goes from zero to a hundred—and curses Benefo.”

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer