Standard Lemma guide

subtraction

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /səbˈtɹækʃən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ækʃən
  • CMU ARPABET: S AH0 B T R AE1 K SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The process of subtracting a number from another.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: arithmetic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A calculation involving subtracting.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Topics: arithmetic

Examples

  • The teacher has set us ten subtractions to do by tomorrow.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The removal of something.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • The subtraction of the wealth from the economy will result in recession.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the act of subtracting (removing a part from the whole)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he complained about the subtraction of money from their paychecks

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deduction

Antonyms: addition

Broader terms: decrease, diminution, reduction, step-down

Narrower terms: bite, withholding

5

noun

Meaning 5

an arithmetic operation in which the difference between two numbers is calculated

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the subtraction of three from four leaves one
  • four minus three equals one

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: minus

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: arithmetic operation

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin subtractio, subtractionis. Can be decomposed to subtract + -ion.

Across languages

Translations

117 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: zbritja — process
  • Arabic: طَرْح (ṭarḥ) — process
  • Armenian: հանում (hanum) — process
  • Asturian: resta — process
  • Asturian: sustracción — process
  • Azerbaijani: çıxma — process
  • Bashkir: алыу (alıw) — process
  • Basque: kenketa — process
  • Belarusian: адніма́нне (adnimánnje) — process
  • Belarusian: адыма́нне (adymánnje) — process
  • Bengali: বিয়োগ (biẏōg) — process
  • Bulgarian: изва́ждане (izváždane) — process
  • Catalan: sostracció — process
  • Catalan: resta — process
  • Catalan: subtracció — process
  • Chinese Mandarin: 減法 /减法 (jiǎnfǎ) — process
  • Czech: odčítání — process
  • Danish: subtraktion — process
  • Dutch: aftrekken — process
  • Esperanto: subtraho — process
  • Estonian: lahutamine — process
  • Finnish: vähentäminen — process
  • French: soustraction — process
  • Galician: subtracción — process
  • Galician: resta — process
  • Georgian: გამოკლება (gamoḳleba) — process
  • German: Subtraktion — process
  • German: Abziehen — process
  • German: Abziehung — process
  • German: Subtrahierung — process
  • German: Subtrahieren — process
  • German: Abzug — process
  • Greek: αφαίρεση (afaíresi) — process
  • Ancient Greek: ἀφαίρεσις (aphaíresis) — process
  • Gujarati: બાદબાકી (bādbākī) — process
  • Hindi: घटाना (ghaṭānā) — process
  • Hungarian: kivonás — process
  • Icelandic: frádráttur — process
  • Ido: sustraciono — process
  • Indonesian: pengurangan — process
  • Italian: sottrazione — process
  • Japanese: 引き算 (hikizan) — process
  • Japanese: 減法 (genpō) — process
  • Kannada: ವ್ಯವಕಲನ (vyavakalana) — process
  • Kazakh: азайту (azaitu) — process
  • Korean: 뺄셈 (ppaelsem) — process
  • Korean: 빼기 (ppaegi) — process
  • Korean: 감법 (gambeop) — process
  • Kyrgyz: кемитме (kemitme) — process
  • Latin: subtractiō — process
  • Latvian: atņemšana — process
  • Lithuanian: atimtis — process
  • Macedonian: одземање (odzemanje) — process
  • Malay: penolakan — process
  • Marshallese: bōk — process
  • Mongolian: хасах үйлдэл (xasax üjldel) — process
  • Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠰᠤᠬᠤ ᠦᠶᠢᠯᠡᠳᠦᠯ (qasuqu üyiledül) — process
  • Norwegian Bokmål: subtraksjon — process
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: subtraksjon — process
  • Persian: تفریق (tafriq) — process
  • Polish: odejmowanie — process
  • Portuguese: subtração — process
  • Romanian: scădere — process
  • Russian: вычита́ние (vyčitánije) — process
  • Serbo-Croatian: оду̀зима̄ње — process
  • Serbo-Croatian: odùzimānje — process
  • Slovak: odčítanie — process
  • Slovene: odštevanje — process
  • Southern Altai: айрыыр (ayrïïr) — process
  • Southern Altai: ... алза ... болор (... alza ... bolor) — process
  • Spanish: resta — process
  • Spanish: sustracción — process
  • Spanish: substracción — process
  • Swedish: subtraktion — process
  • Tagalog: palabawasan — process
  • Tamil: கழித்தல் (kaḻittal) — process
  • Telugu: తీసివేత (tīsivēta) — process
  • Turkish: çıkarma — process
  • Turkish: çıkarma işlemi — process
  • Ukrainian: відніма́ння (vidnimánnja) — process
  • Urdu: تفریق (tafrīq) — process
  • Uzbek: ayirish — process
  • Uzbek: olish — process
  • Vietnamese: phép trừ — process
  • Armenian: հանում (hanum) — calculation
  • Bashkir: алыу (alıw) — calculation
  • Bulgarian: изваждане (izvaždane) — calculation
  • Catalan: subtracció — calculation
  • Dutch: aftrekking — calculation
  • Esperanto: subtraho — calculation
  • Georgian: გამოკლება (gamoḳleba) — calculation
  • Greek: αφαίρεση (afaíresi) — calculation
  • Ancient Greek: ἀφαίρεσις (aphaíresis) — calculation
  • Hungarian: kivonás — calculation
  • Ido: sustraciono — calculation
  • Ingrian: vähentämiin — calculation
  • Italian: sottrazione — calculation
  • Japanese: 引き算 (hikizan) — calculation
  • Japanese: 減算 (gensan) — calculation
  • Japanese: 減法 (genpō) — calculation
  • Korean: 뺄셈 (ppaelsem) — calculation
  • Kyrgyz: кемитме (kemitme) — calculation
  • Latin: subtractiō — calculation
  • Māori: tangohanga — calculation
  • Marshallese: bōk — calculation
  • Norwegian Bokmål: subtraksjon — calculation
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: subtraksjon — calculation
  • Polish: odejmowanie — calculation
  • Portuguese: subtração — calculation
  • Russian: вычита́ние (vyčitánije) — calculation
  • Serbo-Croatian: oduzimanje — calculation
  • Southern Altai: айрыыр (ayrïïr) — calculation
  • Southern Altai: ... алза ... болор (... alza ... bolor) — calculation
  • Tagalog: palabawasan — calculation
  • Telugu: తీసివేత (tīsivēta) — calculation
  • Turkish: çıkarma işlemi — calculation
  • Ukrainian: відніма́ння (vidnimánnja) — calculation
Real reading context

subtraction in complete knowledge articles