scale down

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

Sweden, however, scaled down its infrastructure and only in recent years started gearing up again.

From BBC

Several - including in Darfur, Sudan and Mali - have been closed, and others scaled down.

From BBC

The search had been scaled down during daylight hours - when the raccoons are expected to go to sleep.

From BBC

Although she works on a large scale, this required her to scale down.

From Los Angeles Times

Glasgow, which hosted the games in 2014, is now close to confirming a scaled down event featuring fewer sports.

From BBC

Related Words

• curtail
• cut
• cut down
• decrease
• depreciate
• devalue
• diminish
• downgrade
• knock off
• lessen
• pare
• slash
• soften