What's the difference between reduce and refine?

Reduce


Definition:

  • (n.) To bring or lead back to any former place or condition.
  • (n.) To bring to any inferior state, with respect to rank, size, quantity, quality, value, etc.; to diminish; to lower; to degrade; to impair; as, to reduce a sergeant to the ranks; to reduce a drawing; to reduce expenses; to reduce the intensity of heat.
  • (n.) To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture; as, to reduce a province or a fort.
  • (n.) To bring to a certain state or condition by grinding, pounding, kneading, rubbing, etc.; as, to reduce a substance to powder, or to a pasty mass; to reduce fruit, wood, or paper rags, to pulp.
  • (n.) To bring into a certain order, arrangement, classification, etc.; to bring under rules or within certain limits of descriptions and terms adapted to use in computation; as, to reduce animals or vegetables to a class or classes; to reduce a series of observations in astronomy; to reduce language to rules.
  • (n.) To change, as numbers, from one denomination into another without altering their value, or from one denomination into others of the same value; as, to reduce pounds, shillings, and pence to pence, or to reduce pence to pounds; to reduce days and hours to minutes, or minutes to days and hours.
  • (n.) To change the form of a quantity or expression without altering its value; as, to reduce fractions to their lowest terms, to a common denominator, etc.
  • (n.) To bring to the metallic state by separating from impurities; hence, in general, to remove oxygen from; to deoxidize; to combine with, or to subject to the action of, hydrogen; as, ferric iron is reduced to ferrous iron; or metals are reduced from their ores; -- opposed to oxidize.
  • (n.) To restore to its proper place or condition, as a displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a fracture, or a hernia.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) There was appreciable variation in toothbrush wear among subjects, some reducing their brush to a poor state in 2 weeks whereas with others the brush was rated as "good" after 10 weeks.
  • (2) Disease stabilisation was associated with prolonged periods of comparatively high plasma levels of drug, which appeared to be determined primarily by reduced drug clearance.
  • (3) These included bringing in the A* grade, reducing the number of modules from six to four, and a greater attempt to assess the whole course at the end.
  • (4) It is concluded that amlodipine reduces myocardial ischemic injury by mechanism(s) that may involve a reduction in myocardial oxygen demand as well as by positively influencing transmembrane Ca2+ fluxes during ischemia and reperfusion.
  • (5) Open field behaviors and isolation-induced aggression were reduced by anxiolytics, at doses which may be within the sedative-hypnotic range.
  • (6) With aging, the blood vessel wall becomes hyperreactive--presumably because of an augmented vasoconstrictor and a reduced vasodilator responsiveness.
  • (7) In addition, DDT blocked succinate dehydrogenase and the cytochrome b-c span of the electron transport chain, which also secondarily reduced ATP synthesis.
  • (8) Although Jeggo's Chinese hamster ovary cells were more responsive to mAMSA, novo still abrogated mAMSA toxicity in the mutant cells as well as in the parental Chinese hamster ovary cells 2,4-Dinitrophenol acted similarly to novo with respect to mAMSA killing, but neither compound reduced the ATP content of V79 cells.
  • (9) At pH 7.0, reduction is complete after 6 to 10 h. These results together with an earlier study concerning the positions of the two most readily reduced bonds (Cornell J.S., and Pierce, J.G.
  • (10) Methanosphaera stadtmanae reduces methanol to CH4 in a similar way as Methanosarcina barkeri.
  • (11) There is no evidence that health-maintenance organizations reduce admissions in discretionary or "unnecessary" categories; instead, the data suggest lower admission rates across the board.
  • (12) In schizophrenic patients the density of dopamine uptake sites in the basal ganglia was slightly reduced, mainly in the middle third of putamen.
  • (13) During recovery glucose uptake was reduced and citrate release was unaffected.
  • (14) The difference in BP between a hospital casual reading and the mean 24 hour ambulatory reading was reduced only by atenolol.
  • (15) Based on several previous studies, which demonstrated that sorbitol accumulation in human red blood cells (RBCs) was a function of ambient glucose concentrations, either in vitro or in vivo, our investigations were conducted to determine if RBC sorbitol accumulation would correlate with sorbitol accumulation in lens and nerve tissue of diabetic rats; the effect of sorbinil in reducing sorbitol levels in lens and nerve tissue of diabetic rats would be reflected by changes in RBC sorbitol; and sorbinil would reduce RBC sorbitol in diabetic man.
  • (16) This was unlike the action of the calcium channel blocker, cadmium, which reduced the calcium action potential and the a.h.p.
  • (17) aeruginosa and Enterococci) were significantly reduced in number during the manipulation (Fig.
  • (18) Arginine vasopressin further reduced papillary flow in kidneys perfused with high viscosity artificial plasma.
  • (19) Epidermal growth factor reduced plating efficiency by about 50% for A431 cells in different cell cycle phases whereas a slight increase in plating efficiency was seen for SiHa cells.
  • (20) Nicardipine lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure to normal, plasma aldosterone was reduced and serum potassium levels were increased.

Refine


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities; to free from dross or alloy; to separate from extraneous matter; to purify; to defecate; as, to refine gold or silver; to refine iron; to refine wine or sugar.
  • (v. t.) To purify from what is gross, coarse, vulgar, inelegant, low, and the like; to make elegant or exellent; to polish; as, to refine the manners, the language, the style, the taste, the intellect, or the moral feelings.
  • (v. i.) To become pure; to be cleared of feculent matter.
  • (v. i.) To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.
  • (v. i.) To affect nicety or subtilty in thought or language.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The patients had a high AP, consumed more alcohol, were more well-fed, older and consumed more refined carbohydrates per 1 kg bw and less cholesterol and vegetable protein.
  • (2) After restrained least-squares refinement of the enzyme-substrate complex with the riboflavin omitted from the model, additional electron density appeared near the pyrophosphate, which indicated the presence of an ADPR molecule in the FAD binding site of PHBH.
  • (3) Well-refined x-ray structures of the liganded forms of the wild-type and a mutant protein isolated from a strain defective in chemotaxis but fully competent in transport have provided a molecular view of the sugar-binding site and of a site for interacting with the Trg transmembrane signal transducer.
  • (4) To meet these prerequisites we have introduced some technical refinements: (1) computer-controlled rectilinear translations of the target in combination with different angular positions of the source and (2) computer-controlled rotations of the target around a vertical axis in combination with different angular positions of the source.
  • (5) Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) was conceptualized more than 35 years ago, but its clinical application only flourished in the past 10 years after a number of technical refinements.
  • (6) In 1984 the press-fit condylar knee was first introduced and was intended to provide a condylar knee system primarily for posterior cruciate retention that addressed refinements in metallurgy, prosthetic geometry and sizing, cementless fixation, inventory management, and instrumentation.
  • (7) Obviously, the sheer number of lasers being used both clinically and experimentally indicates a great potential for further advancement and refinement in technique and surgical outcomes.
  • (8) Phases from x-ray structure factors (R = 0.43) computed from this model were then used in the calculation of another electron density map against which the model was further refined.
  • (9) Staging classifications are being refined to reflect increasing knowledge of important prognostic indicators, e.g., absence or presence of lymph node involvement, pattern of lymph node involvement, and absence or presence of visceral disease.
  • (10) The ordered aspect of the genetic code table makes this result a plausible starting point for studies of the origin and evolution of the genetic code: these could include, besides a more refined optimization principle at the logical level, some effects more directly related to the physico-chemical context, and the construction of realistic models incorporating both aspects.
  • (11) The structure of Mn(III) superoxide dismutase (Mn(III)SOD) from Thermus thermophilus, a tetramer of chains 203 residues in length, has been refined by restrained least-squares methods.
  • (12) Based on the refined atomic coordinates of the tRNAphe in the orthorhombic crystal, on the recent advances in the distance dependence of the ring-current magnetic field effects and on the adopted values for the isolated hydrogen-bonded NH resonances, a computed spectrum consisting of 23 protons was constructed.
  • (13) It can be used as a simple screening procedure to help determine which of many possible anthelmintic control strategies should be selected for more detailed examination in the field, and it provides a theoretical framework within which ideas concerning the epidemiology of parasitic gastroenteritis can be assessed and refined.
  • (14) The advances in lid and orbital surgery are due to the improvements made in diagnostic equipment and to technical refinements.
  • (15) The group’s refining business performed better than expected, more than doubling profit to $2.2bn from $1bn.
  • (16) They also suggest that both the migration of cortical neurons on glia and the refinement of the mapping between the peripheral whisker field and its cortical representation may depend upon the distribution of substrate adhesion molecules.
  • (17) Thus the present study gives support for a protective effect associated with a fiber-rich or vegetable-rich diet, while it indicates that frequent consumption of refined starchy foods, eggs and fat-rich foods such as cheese and red meat is a risk factor for colo-rectal cancer.
  • (18) Synthesis and discussion is focused on five major areas in which gerontological continuity and change are evidenced: 1) transformation of basic themes over time; 2) gerontology's identity crisis; 3) the social ideology of gerontology; 4) evolution and refinement of gerontological ideas and methods; and 5) temporal frameworks.
  • (19) The course content and format were refined after 11 pharmacists completed a pilot program.
  • (20) This has led to important advances in our understanding of the mechanism of axonal guidance, the physiology of neurotrophic factors and the establishment and refinement of neural connections.