attenuate vs reduce

attenuate

verb
  • To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree. 

  • To reduce the amplitude of an electrical, radio, or optical signal. 

  • To weaken. 

  • To become thin or fine; to grow less. 

  • To rarefy. 

  • (of a beer) To become less dense as a result of the conversion of sugar to alcohol. 

  • To reduce the virulence of a bacterium or virus. 

  • To make thinner, as by physically reshaping, starving, or decaying. 

adj
  • Gradually tapering into a petiole-like extension toward the base. 

reduce

verb
  • To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower. 

  • To annul by legal means. 

  • To convert to written form. (Usage note: this verb almost always appears as "reduce to writing".) 

  • To lose weight. 

  • To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment. 

  • To bring to an inferior state or condition. 

  • To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value. 

  • To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote. 

  • To convert a syllogism to a clearer or simpler form. 

  • To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen. 

  • To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture. 

  • To strike off the payroll. 

  • To decrease the liquid content of food by boiling much of its water off. 

  • To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter. 

  • To express the solution of a problem in terms of another (known) algorithm. 

  • To reform a line or column from (a square). 

How often have the words attenuate and reduce occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )