reductive

Adjective

reductive (comparative more reductive, superlative most reductive)

1. (archaic, Scots law) Pertaining to the reduction of a decree etc.; rescissory.
2. Causing the physical reduction or diminution of something.
3. That reduces a substance etc. to a more simple or basic form.
   • On the relative reductive powers of different classes of American coals, as demonstrated by the experiments with oxide of lead.1848, F Knapp, Chemical Technology; Or, Chemistry Applied to the Arts and to Manufactures
   • It is likely that the long evolutionary trajectory of Mycoplasma went from a reductive autotroph to oxidative heterotroph to a cell-wall–defective degenerate parasite. This evolutionary trajectory assumes the simplicity to complexity route of biogenesis, a point of view that is not universally...2013 March, Harold J. Morowitz, “The Smallest Cell”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2017, page 83
4. (archaic, historical) That can be derived from, or referred back to, something else.
   • But then beside the primary and direct sense of the text, the ancients commonly supposed that there was a reductive or anagogical meaning, in which it might be taken.1847, John Johnson, The theological works of the rev. John Johnson
5. (now frequently derogatory) That reduces an argument, issue etc. to its most basic terms; simplistic, reductionist.