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
One alteration by addition begs another by subtraction: The recap strangely excludes all footage of Project Butterfly, the bad guys who dominated Season 1, even though Season 2 does acknowledge the dismissal of its leader, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis).
—
Ben Travers, IndieWire, 21 Aug. 2025
Politics is a game of addition and not subtraction.
—John Phillips, Oc Register, 29 July 2025
Imports are a subtraction in the GDP calculation.
—Tobias Burns, The Hill, 28 July 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
Ben Travers, IndieWire, 21 Aug. 2025
Politics is a game of addition and not subtraction.
—John Phillips, Oc Register, 29 July 2025
Imports are a subtraction in the GDP calculation.
—Tobias Burns, The Hill, 28 July 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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These changes are reflected in the Tax Foundation’s 2026 calculator, which models the new law using its own estimates for inflation and deduction thresholds.—
Mike Winters,
CNBC,
8 Oct. 2025
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The series will feature a group of contestants facing physical and mental challenges to collect clues before stepping into a real-life game of deduction and deception.—
Peter White,
Deadline,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
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After one year, participants in all three groups saw reductions not only in their distress but in levels of hemoglobin A1C (a key indicator of blood glucose; higher levels mean worse control).—
Lauren J. Young,
Scientific American,
14 Oct. 2025
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Rudolph said the tools, which are mainly used to automate session notes, to autogenerate care plans and to interpret lab results, have resulted in a 65 percent reduction in documentation time.—
Katherine Fung,
MSNBC Newsweek,
14 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Subtraction.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subtraction. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.
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