From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishreduce somebody/something to something phrasal verb1 reduce somebody to tears/silence etcFORCE somebody TO DO something to make someone cry, be silent etc She was reduced to tears in front of her students.2 reduce somebody to doing somethingFORCE somebody TO DO something to make someone do something they would rather not do, especially when it involves behaving or living in a way that is not as good as before Eventually Charlotte was reduced to begging on the streets.3 reduce something to ashes/rubble/ruinsDESTROY to destroy something, especially a building, completely A massive earthquake reduced the city to rubble.4 REDUCEto change something into a shorter simpler form Many jobs can be reduced to a few simple points. → reduce→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
reduce somebody to tears/silence etc• At mealtimes, Kornemann would rail at his wife in front of the boys, reducing her to tears.• Initially, it was the existential absurdity of his predicament that reduced Sooty to silence.• It becomes the subject of innumerable short stories and songs, of films that reduce their audiences to tears.• Outside in her car she kept a tight grip on herself, refusing to let her humiliation reduce her to tears.• She would come home in tears and reduce my wife to tears.• They might stop me having visitors if they think I reduce them to tears.• He has in his grasp the ability to reduce anyone to tears, through a snappy headline or lurid story.reduce somebody to doing something• They were reduced to begging on the streets. 