soustraire

to subtract

verb soo-STREHR Rare

Origin: Latin 'subtrahere' (to draw away from below)

Also means

to shield from

Usage Note

Soustraire is conjugated like traire (an irregular verb): je soustrais, il soustrait, nous soustrayons. Beyond the arithmetic sense, se soustraire à means to evade or escape something, as in se soustraire à la justice (to evade justice). The infinitive ends in -aire, not -ire.

Examples

"Soustrayez dix de cinquante pour obtenir quarante."

Natural Translation

Subtract ten from fifty to get forty.

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