'antireduction' is formed from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti-', meaning 'against') combined with the noun 'reduction'.

'reduction' comes via Old French/Latin from Latin 'reducere' (re- 'back' + ducere 'to lead'); the modern English noun 'reduction' developed through Middle English from these sources. The combining form 'anti-' entered English from Greek (often via Latin) and has been productive in modern English to form oppositional compounds like 'antireduction'.

Originally 'reducere' meant 'to lead back'; in English 'reduction' came to mean 'the act of making smaller, simplifying, or lowering'. 'Antireduction' therefore evolved to mean 'against diminution or against explanatory simplification' (i.e., opposition to reduction or reductionism).