Library / English Dictionary

DEDUCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reason by deduction; establish by deduction

Synonyms:

deduce; deduct; derive; infer

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "deduce" is one way to...):

conclude; reason; reason out (decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion)

Domain category:

logic; logical system; system of logic (a system of reasoning)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deduce"):

extrapolate (gain knowledge of (an area not known or experienced) by extrapolating)

surmise (infer from incomplete evidence)

elicit (derive by reason)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

deduction (reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect))

deductive (involving inferences from general principles)

deductive (relating to logical deduction)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Conclude by reasoning; in logic

Synonyms:

deduce; infer

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "deduce" is one way to...):

conclude; reason; reason out (decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

deducible (capable of being deduced)

deduction (reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect))

deductive (involving inferences from general principles)

deductive (relating to logical deduction)

Credits

 Context examples: 

My father observed with pain the alteration perceptible in my disposition and habits and endeavoured by arguments deduced from the feelings of his serene conscience and guiltless life to inspire me with fortitude and awaken in me the courage to dispel the dark cloud which brooded over me.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

By using the FORS2 instrument on the Very Large Telescope the team was able to carefully analyse this light and deduce that the atmosphere contained small amounts of titanium oxide, water and traces of sodium, alongside a strongly scattering global haze.

(Inferno World with Titanium Skies, ESO)

She was separated from all her party, and away from all her acquaintance; one mortification succeeded another, and from the whole she deduced this useful lesson, that to go previously engaged to a ball does not necessarily increase either the dignity or enjoyment of a young lady.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Based on these measurements of movement, the researchers could deduce that the mass of Teegarden b is similar to the Earth’s and that it orbits the star every 4.9 days at 2.5% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

(Researchers find two new planets with masses similar to Earth’s near a small neighbouring star, University of Granada)

Two inferences, however, were plainly deduced from the whole: one, that Elizabeth was the real cause of the mischief; and the other that she herself had been barbarously misused by them all; and on these two points she principally dwelt during the rest of the day.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Such a meaning would be arbitrary and could not be deduced in any way.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I do not know that the relation of my disasters will be useful to you; yet, when I reflect that you are pursuing the same course, exposing yourself to the same dangers which have rendered me what I am, I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my tale, one that may direct you if you succeed in your undertaking and console you in case of failure.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

We might deduce it from the mere character of the one hand as compared with the other.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For example, how did you deduce that this man was intellectual?

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)