1. the act of subtracting (removing a part from the whole) - he complained about the subtraction of money from their paychecks • Syn: deduction • Ant: addition • Derivationally related forms: deduct (for: deduction), subtract • Hypernyms: decrease, diminution, reduction, step-down • Hyponyms: bite, withholding 2. an arithmetic operation in which the difference between two numbers is calculated - the subtraction of three from four leaves one - four minus three equals one • Syn: minus • Derivationally related forms: subtract • Hypernyms: arithmetic operation
