Meaning & use
reductive
Presenting something complex in an oversimplified way that ignores important nuance or detail.
See it in a sentence
Critics called the film's portrayal of the war reductive, since it ignored the political complexities involved.
Explaining creativity purely in terms of brain chemistry feels reductive to many artists.
A note on using this word
Reductive is almost always used critically, implying that a simplification has lost something important rather than merely being concise.
Words with a similar meaning
oversimplifiedsimplistic
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
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