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boil down

B1 neutral separable both
In simple words

To make a liquid thicker by boiling, or to find the simple main idea in something complicated.

Literal meaning: To boil a liquid until it becomes less in volume, going 'down' in the pot.

Meanings

1 B1 neutral

(Cooking) To reduce a liquid's volume by boiling it, making it thicker and more concentrated.

"Boil the sauce down until it coats the back of a spoon."

Grammar: separable
2 B1 idiomatic neutral

(Figurative) To reduce information, an argument, or a situation to its most essential or simplest form.

"His long speech boiled down to one point: they needed more funding."

"It all boils down to this: do we want a country where the richest few do better and better while the middle class continues to struggle?"

— Barack Obama, campaign speech (2012)
Grammar: inseparable
Usage notes

The figurative sense ('it all boils down to…') is extremely common in spoken and written English at all levels. Usually followed by 'to' in the figurative sense. The literal (culinary) sense is also very frequent in cooking contexts.

Commonly used with

sauce syrup argument problem issue question

Forms

Base
boil down
I/you/we/they
3rd person
boils down
he/she/it
Past simple
boiled down
yesterday
Past participle
boiled down
have + pp
-ing form
boiling down
continuous

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Synonyms

reduce concentrate summarise simplify come down to amount to

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