deduction
[ dih-duhk-shuh n ]
/ dɪˈdʌk ʃən /
noun
the act or process of deducting; subtraction.
something that is or may be deducted: She took deductions for a home office and other business expenses from her taxes.
the act or process of deducing.
something that is deduced: His astute deduction was worthy of Sherlock Holmes.
Logic.
- a process of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the premises presented, so that the conclusion cannot be false if the premises are true.
- a conclusion reached by this process.Compare induction(def 4).
Origin of deduction
OTHER WORDS FROM deduction
non·de·duc·tion, noun pre·de·duc·tion, nounWORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH deduction
deduction extrapolation induction generalization hypothesisWords nearby deduction
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deductible,
deductible clause,
deduction,
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deductive,
deduplicate,
dedéagach,
dee
Example sentences from the Web for deduction
British Dictionary definitions for deduction
deduction
/ (dɪˈdʌkʃən) /
noun
the act or process of deducting or subtracting
something, esp a sum of money, that is or may be deducted
- the process of reasoning typical of mathematics and logic, whose conclusions follow necessarily from their premises
- an argument of this type
- the conclusion of such an argument
logic
- a systematic method of deriving conclusions that cannot be false when the premises are true, esp one amenable to formalization and study by the science of logic
- an argument of this typeCompare induction (def. 4)
Scientific definitions for deduction
deduction
[ dĭ-dŭk′shən ]
The process of reasoning from the general to the specific, in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the premises.
A conclusion reached by this process.
Usage
The logical processes known as deduction and induction work in opposite ways. In deduction general principles are applied to specific instances. Thus, using a mathematical formula to figure the volume of air that can be contained in a gymnasium is applying deduction. Similarly, applying a law of physics to predict the outcome of an experiment is reasoning by deduction. By contrast, induction makes generalizations based on a number of specific instances. The observation of hundreds of examples in which a certain chemical kills plants might prompt the inductive conclusion that the chemical is toxic to all plants. Inductive generalizations are often revised as more examples are studied and more facts are known. If certain plants that have not been tested turn out to be unaffected by the chemical, the conclusion about the chemical's toxicity must be revised or restricted. In this way, an inductive generalization is much like a hypothesis.