Associations to the word «Reductive»

Wiktionary

REDUCTIVE, adjective. (Scottish legal) (now rare) Pertaining to the reduction of a decree etc.; rescissory. [from 16th c.]
REDUCTIVE, adjective. Causing the physical reduction or diminution of something. [from 17th c.]
REDUCTIVE, adjective. (chemistry) (metallurgy) (biology) That reduces a substance etc. to a more simple or basic form. [from 17th c.]
REDUCTIVE, adjective. (now rare) (historical) That can be derived from, or referred back to, something else. [from 17th c.]
REDUCTIVE, adjective. (now frequently pejorative) That reduces an argument, issue etc. to its most basic terms; simplistic, reductionist. [from 20th c.]

Dictionary definition

REDUCTIVE, adjective. Characterized by or causing diminution or curtailment; "their views of life were reductive and depreciatory" - R.H.Rovere.

Wise words

Words are always getting conventionalized to some secondary meaning. It is one of the works of poetry to take the truants in custody and bring them back to their right senses.
William Butler Yeats