/ɹəˈdus/
Say it backReduce means to make something smaller or less in size, amount, or degree. It can also refer to diminishing importance, intensity, or quantity, often through deliberate action. The term appears in both everyday and technical contexts, from reducing waste to reducing a mathematical expression.
- You often start with a strong /ɹ/ and a clipped second syllable; instead aim for re- as a quick, light onset and give sustain to the /dus/ portion. - The /d/ and /juː/ can blur if you don’t connect them; practice by saying “red-you-s” where you connect the /d/ to the /juː/ without inserting extra vowels. - People mispronounce the ending as /s/ or /z/; ensure the ending carries a long, clean /uː/ or /juː/ glide and ends with a light consonant.
"We need to reduce our plastic use to protect the environment."
"The surgeon will try to reduce the risk of complications."
"Please reduce the volume; it’s too loud in here."
Pronounce as re-DUCE with secondary stress on the syllable; the first syllable uses a reduced schwa-like vowel before a strong /d/ onset. IPA: US rɪˈdus, UK rɪˈdjuːs, AU rɪˈdjuːs. The final syllable contains an unstressed /uː/ in UK/AU versions; in US it’s /ə/ vs /juː/ diphthong quality depending on speaker. Mouth positions: start with a relaxed /r/ then a short /ɪ/ or /ɪə/ onset, then /d/ with tongue contact at the alveolar ridge, followed by /juː/ or /uː/ glide ending. Practice by saying “re” quickly as a light schwa, then press into the clear /d/ + /uː/ or /juː/ sequence.
Common errors: (1) stressing the first syllable instead of the second, saying REduce or re-DUCE with wrong vowel quality in the second syllable; (2) mispronouncing the final /juːs/ as /s/ or /z/ with a hard stop; (3) introducing an extra vowel between /d/ and /juː/ (redu-duce). Correction: keep stress on -duce, reduce the vowel in the first syllable to a short /ɪ/ or schwa, and merge the /d/ and /juː/ tightly into /djuː/ or /duː/ without a rapid, intrusive extra vowel.
US tends to /rɪˈdus/ with a lighter /ɪ/ in the first syllable and /uː/ in the second; UK often /rɪˈdjuːs/ with a longer, rounded second syllable and /djuː/ glide; Australian often blends toward /rɪˈdjuːs/ with relaxed vowels and a less rhotic American r in non-rhotic environments. Note that in careful speech, UK/US may show slight differences in the /juː/ vs /uː/ realization and rhythm; Australians may simplify to /duː/ in casual speech.
Because it involves a consonant cluster transition: the final /d/ must smoothly adjoin the semi-vocalized /juː/ or /uː/ glide, which can create a subtle consonant-vowel boundary. The second syllable’s vowel length and quality change between US (/ɪ/ to /uː/) and UK/AU (/ɪ/ plus /juː/), plus subtle lip rounding and jaw position differences can affect accuracy. Mastery comes from practicing the /d/+glide linkage and maintaining stress on the second syllable.
There is no silent letter in reduce. The challenge is not silent letters but the adjacent consonant cluster and the /juː/ glide in many dialects. The pronunciation relies on a clear onset /d/ after the /ɪ/ or /i/ vowel and a smooth transition into the /juː/ or /uː/ ending, with correct stress on the second syllable.
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The verb reduce comes from Middle English reducen, borrowed from Old French reduire, from Latin reducere, composed of re- ‘back, again’ and ducere ‘to lead’. Initially meaning to bring back or lead back, it evolved to “bring down in amount or degree” in the 14th–15th centuries as a general sense of lowering or diminishing. In mathematics and logic, reduce gained a technical sense of simplifying or factoring expressions by the 16th–18th centuries, paralleling themes of shortening or bringing something to a simpler form. The modern sense of reducing waste, costs, or risk arose with industrial and scientific usage in the 19th and 20th centuries, aligning with the broader semantic shift toward optimization and minimization in English. First known uses include phrases like “reduce a price” and “reduce to writing,” illustrating the range from practical reduction of quantity to formal documentation.
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Words that rhyme with "reduce"
-uce sounds
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