What does subtracted mean?
Subtracted means that one amount, quantity, or quality has been taken away from another. The word is most familiar in arithmetic, where it describes the process of finding the difference between two numbers, but it is also widely used for money: a discount may be subtracted from a price, or a budget may be reduced by subtracting expenses from available funds. In more figurative contexts, subtracting can mean reducing the force or value of something by removing an influence or disadvantage. For example, a business may subtract delivery delays from a projection of results. The ordinary past form is subtracted; in informal writing, the common misspelling substracted sometimes appears, but it is not standard. The word is useful whenever a calculation or adjustment involves removing something rather than adding to it.
To take one number or quantity away from another.
"The accountant subtracted the expenses from the revenue."
Subtracted is the past tense and past participle of subtract.
To remove or discount an amount from a total, or to reduce something by taking away an element.
"The company subtracted a small discount from the quoted fee."
This extended use is common in financial, business, and figurative contexts.
When you subtract, the original total survives only in the calculation: one amount is taken away from another.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does subtracted come from?
Subtract comes from Latin subtrahere, formed from sub- ‘under’ and trahere ‘draw, pull’, with the sense of drawing something away. English borrowed the verb in the 16th century, and its modern mathematical sense developed alongside related forms such as subtraction and subtractive. The Latin root is also reflected in cognates including subtrahend, the number to be subtracted from another number.
Related word forms
How subtracted is actually used
Subtracted is the past tense and past participle of subtract. It is standard in both formal and informal English, while less commonly used forms such as substracted should be avoided.
Easily confused with subtracted
Substract is not a standard English verb; the correct form is subtract.