reductive

adjective5

1. •
   Causing the physical reduction or diminution of something.
2. •
   That reduces an argument, issue etc. to its most basic terms; simplistic, reductionist.
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
4. •
   (no longer used, 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
5. •
   (no longer used) Pertaining to the reduction of a decree etc.; rescissory.