Main Entry: in·duc·tion

Pronunciation: \in-ˈdək-shən\

Function: noun

Date: 14th century

1 a : the act or process of inducting (as into office) b : an initial experience : initiation c : the formality by which a civilian is inducted into military service
2 a (1) : inference of a generalized conclusion from particular instances — compare deduction 2a (2) : a conclusion arrived at by induction b : mathematical demonstration of the validity of a law concerning all the positive integers by proving that it holds for the integer 1 and that if it holds for an arbitrarily chosen positive integer k, it must hold for the integer k + 1 —called also mathematical induction
3 : a preface, prologue, or introductory scene especially of an early English play
4 a : the act of bringing forward or adducing (as facts or particulars) b : the act of causing or bringing on or about c : the process by which an electrical conductor becomes electrified when near a charged body, by which a magnetizable body becomes magnetized when in a magnetic field or in the magnetic flux set up by a magnetomotive force, or by which an electromotive force is produced in a circuit by varying the magnetic field linked with the circuit d : the inspiration of the fuel-air charge from the carburetor into the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine e : the process by which the fate of embryonic cells is determined (as by the action of adjacent cells) and morphogenetic differentiation brought about