减少

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Character Breakdown

Usage of 减少

The verb 减少 (jiǎnshǎo) means 'to reduce' or 'to decrease' and is commonly used in both formal and informal contexts. It often appears with nouns indicating quantities, such as 时间 (time), 使用 (usage), or 成本 (cost).

Common Collocations

  • 减少使用 (reduce usage): often used in environmental or resource-saving contexts.
  • 减少时间 (reduce time): frequently used in work or scheduling discussions.
  • 减少成本 (reduce cost): common in business and manufacturing.

Nuances

减少 implies an active effort or process to make something less. It differs from , which simply means 'to become less' without emphasizing intentional action.

Confusions

Avoid confusing 减少 with 降低, which also means 'to lower' but is often used for abstract concepts like temperature or prices, whereas 减少 is more general and can be used for countable and uncountable quantities.

Example Sentences

To protect the environment, we need to reduce the use of plastic.

The company plans to reduce employees' overtime hours.

With technological progress, production costs gradually decrease.