Reductive
adjective
Presenting something in a simpler way, which can result in loss of detail or completeness.
Her reductive summary of the movie failed to capture its complexity.
Often appears as...
- reductive analysis
- reductive approach
Usage tips
Formal
adjective
Involving chemical reduction or the addition of hydrogen.
The reductive process converts the metal ore into pure metal.
Often appears as...
- reductive reaction
- reductive process
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
adjective
Tending to reduce or diminish, especially in size or importance.
His reductive view on the issue did not consider all the factors involved.
Often appears as...
- reductive view
- reductive attitude
Usage tips
Formal
adjective
Presenting something in a simpler way, which can result in loss of detail or completeness.
Her reductive summary of the movie failed to capture its complexity.
Often appears as...
- reductive analysis
- reductive approach
Usage tips
Formal
adjective
Involving chemical reduction or the addition of hydrogen.
The reductive process converts the metal ore into pure metal.
Often appears as...
- reductive reaction
- reductive process
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
adjective
Tending to reduce or diminish, especially in size or importance.
His reductive view on the issue did not consider all the factors involved.
Often appears as...
- reductive view
- reductive attitude
Usage tips
Formal
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Simplicity Bias
Using 'reductive' may suggest a strong bias for simplicity that overlooks complexity.
His reductive explanation stripped the theory of its nuances.
Pro Tip 2/3Critical Tone
It can express a critical tone, implying that the simplification is an oversimplification.
Calling her essay reductive implies it's too simple and misses the point.
Pro Tip 3/3Neutral Descriptions
In some contexts, 'reductive' can neutrally describe condensing information.
The reductive chart helped students understand the concept quickly.
Pro Tip 1/3Simplicity Bias
Using 'reductive' may suggest a strong bias for simplicity that overlooks complexity.
His reductive explanation stripped the theory of its nuances.
Pro Tip 2/3Critical Tone
It can express a critical tone, implying that the simplification is an oversimplification.
Calling her essay reductive implies it's too simple and misses the point.
Pro Tip 3/3Neutral Descriptions
In some contexts, 'reductive' can neutrally describe condensing information.
The reductive chart helped students understand the concept quickly.
Pro Tip 1/3Simplicity Bias
Using 'reductive' may suggest a strong bias for simplicity that overlooks complexity.
His reductive explanation stripped the theory of its nuances.
Pro Tip 2/3Critical Tone
It can express a critical tone, implying that the simplification is an oversimplification.
Calling her essay reductive implies it's too simple and misses the point.
Pro Tip 3/3Neutral Descriptions
In some contexts, 'reductive' can neutrally describe condensing information.
The reductive chart helped students understand the concept quickly.
Never forget "Reductive"
Humans forget easily. That's why you should download WordUp: Smart reminders, word games, AI practice, and much more!
Video examples
Julian Treasure: Shh!...
it's a relationship with sound. And yet it's a skill that none of us are taught. For example, have you ever considered that there are listening positions, places you can listen from? Here are two of them. Reductive listening is listening "for."
Video examples
How does the Rorschach...
as a sort of universal personality test. Employers made prejudiced hiring decisions based on reductive decoding charts. As the test left clinics and entered popular culture its reputation among medical professionals plummeted,
Video examples
Julian Treasure: Shh!...
it's a relationship with sound. And yet it's a skill that none of us are taught. For example, have you ever considered that there are listening positions, places you can listen from? Here are two of them. Reductive listening is listening "for."
Video examples
How does the Rorschach...
as a sort of universal personality test. Employers made prejudiced hiring decisions based on reductive decoding charts. As the test left clinics and entered popular culture its reputation among medical professionals plummeted,
Example 1 of 2
Quote examples
Mark Waid
American Writer
There is a reductive nature to the Internet, and it's not limited to comic book news sites and stuff: it's everybody. There is a reductive nature of it, by which anything that's said very quickly gets reduced down to the next. Reduced, reduced, reduced to the point where rumors with some sense of nuance to them just become fact.
Quote examples
Matisyahu
American Musician
When a person listens to a good song, and they can look out at the world and their lives and see the dark and the light, the negative and the positive, all the different elements, all come together in one holistic poem, that is a very healing and very reductive thing, and that's what my music is about.
Quote examples
Neri Oxman
American Architect
Although I often find that the feminist rhetoric - not feminism - can come across as simple-minded, self-regarding, nuance-averse and reductive - biology to physiology, history to psychology, procreation to gynecology, and so on - I have come to realize that we should all be feminists.
Quote examples
Julian Treasure
American
Men tend to listen in what I call a reductive way, which is to say for a point, for a solution. You know, we like to have a problem and solve it. Bang. Thank you very much. On to the next thing.
Quote examples
Kehinde Wiley
American Artist
This idea that my work is about hip-hop is a little reductive. What I'm interested in is the performance of masculinity, the performance of ethnicity, and how they intermingle across cultures.
Quote examples
Justin Simien
American Director
In the press, there's this desire for the black audience to be this monolithic thing that always responds to the same stars. That's a really reductive way of looking at the black audience.
Quote examples
Siri Hustvedt
American Novelist
The third-person or 'objective,' static, reductive models used in most science are important and yield significant results, but they have their limitations.
Quote examples
Ben Okri
Nigerian Poet
We have fallen into this very mean description of humanity. Naturalism in fiction is too reductive in its definition of human beings.
Quote examples
Robert Redford
American Actor
It's an honor putting art above politics. Politics can be seductive in terms of things reductive to the soul.
Quote examples
Adam Conover
American Comedian
Generational thinking has always been reductive and condescending.
Quote examples
Mark Waid
American Writer
There is a reductive nature to the Internet, and it's not limited to comic book news sites and stuff: it's everybody. There is a reductive nature of it, by which anything that's said very quickly gets reduced down to the next. Reduced, reduced, reduced to the point where rumors with some sense of nuance to them just become fact.
Quote examples
Matisyahu
American Musician
When a person listens to a good song, and they can look out at the world and their lives and see the dark and the light, the negative and the positive, all the different elements, all come together in one holistic poem, that is a very healing and very reductive thing, and that's what my music is about.
Quote examples
Neri Oxman
American Architect
Although I often find that the feminist rhetoric - not feminism - can come across as simple-minded, self-regarding, nuance-averse and reductive - biology to physiology, history to psychology, procreation to gynecology, and so on - I have come to realize that we should all be feminists.
Quote examples
Julian Treasure
American
Men tend to listen in what I call a reductive way, which is to say for a point, for a solution. You know, we like to have a problem and solve it. Bang. Thank you very much. On to the next thing.
Quote examples
Kehinde Wiley
American Artist
This idea that my work is about hip-hop is a little reductive. What I'm interested in is the performance of masculinity, the performance of ethnicity, and how they intermingle across cultures.
Quote examples
Justin Simien
American Director
In the press, there's this desire for the black audience to be this monolithic thing that always responds to the same stars. That's a really reductive way of looking at the black audience.
Quote examples
Siri Hustvedt
American Novelist
The third-person or 'objective,' static, reductive models used in most science are important and yield significant results, but they have their limitations.
Quote examples
Ben Okri
Nigerian Poet
We have fallen into this very mean description of humanity. Naturalism in fiction is too reductive in its definition of human beings.
Quote examples
Robert Redford
American Actor
It's an honor putting art above politics. Politics can be seductive in terms of things reductive to the soul.
Quote examples
Adam Conover
American Comedian
Generational thinking has always been reductive and condescending.
Example 1 of 10
WordUp Chrome Extension
As you browse the web instantly look up words you don’t know.
Get Chrome Extension