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scale down

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scale something down

to reduce the size or cost of something. The bad economy forced us to scale the project down. Liz scaled down the project.

See also: down, scale

scale down

Reduce the size or cost of, as in The owners decided to scale down wages. This expression, along with the related scale up, which refers to an increase, alludes to scale in the sense of "a fixed standard." [Late 1800s]

See also: down, scale

scale down

v.

1. To climb down something; descend something: The climber carefully scaled down the cliff.

2. To reduce the scope or extent of something according to a standard or by degrees; reduce something in calculated amounts: The lawyer advised them to scale down their demands. We decided our travel plans were unrealistic, so we scaled them down.

See also: down, scale