as in deduction
the act or an instance of taking away from a total
the restaurant may not have raised the price, but there's definitely been a subtraction in the number of fries in a side order
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Recent Examples of subtraction
Everything has fallen into place this offseason as the Nuggets prepare to hold their media day on Monday, starting with the subtractions.
—
Troy Renck, Denver Post, 25 Sep. 2025
Now, last minute additions (and subtractions), especially with really large yachts like MAR are pretty common at this stage before the show.
—Bill Springer, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
Nohl Williams Key subtractions: WR DeAndre Hopkins, G Joe Thuney, DT Tershawn Wharton, S Justin Reid
Looking ahead: No 15-win conference champion was ever scrutinized more than the Chiefs last year, but that’s what happens when the expectations are Super Bowl or bust.
—David Wilson, Miami Herald, 28 Aug. 2025
All data are reported with their 2σ uncertainties that include reproducibility of D/H measurements on the reference materials, uncertainty of H2O background subtraction, internal precision on each analysis and uncertainty of corrections of spallation effects (Supplementary Table 5).
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 16 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for subtraction
Troy Renck, Denver Post, 25 Sep. 2025
Now, last minute additions (and subtractions), especially with really large yachts like MAR are pretty common at this stage before the show.
—Bill Springer, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
Nohl Williams Key subtractions: WR DeAndre Hopkins, G Joe Thuney, DT Tershawn Wharton, S Justin Reid
Looking ahead: No 15-win conference champion was ever scrutinized more than the Chiefs last year, but that’s what happens when the expectations are Super Bowl or bust.
—David Wilson, Miami Herald, 28 Aug. 2025
All data are reported with their 2σ uncertainties that include reproducibility of D/H measurements on the reference materials, uncertainty of H2O background subtraction, internal precision on each analysis and uncertainty of corrections of spallation effects (Supplementary Table 5).
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 16 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for subtraction
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subtraction
Noun
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The elimination of the theft loss deduction proved to be catastrophic for many taxpayers who lost sizable amounts of money to scams, Wease said.—
Susan Tompor,
Freep.com,
30 Oct. 2025
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Most munis are not subject to AMT, which is applied to high-earning taxpayers who may otherwise use a number of deductions to reduce their tax liability.—
Michelle Fox,
CNBC,
29 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Waymo touts its safety record, citing company research saying that compared to a human driver, Waymo vehicles reported a 91% reduction in serious injury crashes, 79% fewer airbag deployments and 80% fewer injury-causing collisions.—
Rob Nikolewski,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
5 Nov. 2025
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Climate scientists have repeatedly warned that a substantial reduction in fossil fuel use will be necessary to curb global heating, with the burning of coal, oil and gas identified as the chief driver of the climate crisis.—
Sam Meredith,Dan Murphy,
CNBC,
5 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Subtraction.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subtraction. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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