Reduces

Reduces is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb reduce. It denotes making something smaller, lower, shorter, or simpler, or bringing something back to a more basic or desired state. The term appears in everyday language and in many technical fields. Examples include policies that reduce emissions, budgets that reduce waste, or steps that reduce the complexity of a problem. In mathematics, a fraction or expression can be reduced to lowest terms. In chemistry and physics, a substance reduces another by gaining electrons, a core idea in redox chemistry. In data and signal processing, algorithms can reduce noise or compress data to decrease size and improve efficiency.

Grammatical and usage notes: reduce is a regular verb; reduced is the past tense and past participle; reducing is the present participle. The form reduces carries -es for the third-person singular, as in "it reduces costs." Etymology traces reduce to the Latin reducere, from re- 'back' + ducere 'to lead,' meaning to bring something back to a simpler or more optimal state. Related terms include reduction, reducible, and reducing agent in chemistry.

See also: reduction (general concept), data reduction, environmental reduction, and redox-related reduction in chemistry. The term is versatile across disciplines, with a core sense of decreasing quantity, complexity, or size, or restoring a simpler form.