adjective

reductive

rih-DUK-tiv/rɪˈdʌktɪv/

Making something too simple by ignoring its complexity.

The reductive diagram replaces the tree's many branches with one crude line.

A rich many-branched tree diagram is squeezed into a single crude straight line, no text.

Etymology

reLatinback

+ductLatinlead, bring

+iveLatinhaving the power or tendency to

“Leading back” developed into reducing or lessening. Applied to explanations, reductive describes cutting complexity down too far, so that important features are lost.

In context

Tribunate14:08

the reductive conclusion that the dynamics of roman religion were defined by Patrician zealots on one side and plebeian atheists on the other. The reality is that Rome was far too multifaceted for any oversimplified interpretation

Gods, Ritual & Power: Unveiling Roman Religion

More examples

The report offers a reductive explanation of poverty.
Dividing everyone into winners and losers seems reductive.
His reductive summary leaves out the novel's moral conflicts.

Forms

reductive

reductively adverb — In a way that ignores complexity.

reductiveness noun — The quality of oversimplifying complex matters.

Similar words

simplistic: Emphasizes naive reasoning rather than specifically stripping away complexity.
oversimplified: Emphasizes the simplified result rather than the approach taken.