reductive
Americanadjective
-
of or relating to reduction; serving to reduce or abridge.
an urgent need for reductive measures.
-
of or relating to change from one form to another.
reductive chemical processes.
-
employing an analysis of a complex subject into a simplified, less detailed form; of, pertaining to, or employing reductionism; reductionistic.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of reductive
First recorded in 1625–35; reduct(ion) + -ive
Explanation
Reductive things oversimplify information or leave out important details. A reductive argument won't win a debate, because it tries to make a complex issue much too simple. Your friend may recommend reading the "CliffsNotes" version of "Moby Dick," instead of the novel itself — but if you do, you'll only get a reductive summary of the plot and themes, instead of a long, nuanced book. Reductive shares a root with reduce, or "make smaller," the Latin reducere, "bring back." The earliest meaning of reductive was "that brings back."
Vocabulary lists containing reductive
I Was Their American Dream
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White Lies
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As for Holbrook, he portrays a painfully ordinary U.S. soldier — the kind who impetuously signed up in response to 9/11 — while pushing against reductive stereotypes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The Jewish Museum presents a wide-ranging but thematically reductive survey of the ingenious painter’s work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
The reductive strategy so nearly secured successive World Cup finals - but often proved soporific for supporters.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
Biopics are “an exasperating genre,” Variety wrote, smushing some of “the planet’s most unorthodox personalities into a reductive, overly moralistic mold.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
I know only that I will never see him again, and that anything I can say or offer by way of his present life might well be taken as reductive and suspect.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
