I don't get how taking away macros is "less is more".

Since macros provide capabilities that no other feature does, it seems to me that taking them away is "less is less".

As I understand it, the intent behind "less is more" is to boil things down to a minimal number of 'things' (for lack of a better word) without sacrificing capabilities, which in practice involves getting rid of redundancies and overlap while coming up with orthogonal 'things'. Reducing the number of 'things' while also sacrificing capabilities seems to be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

(Although to be honest, I've been unable to find a definition of "less is more" in the context of programming anywhere.)

Could you clarify what you mean by "less is more"?