deduce

verb de·duce \ di-ˈdüs , dē- ; chiefly British -ˈdyüs \

|Updated on: 11 Aug 2018

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Examples: deduce in a Sentence

Definition of deduce

deduced; deducing

transitive verb

1 : to determine by reasoning or deduction

deduce the age of ancient artifacts

She deduced, from the fur stuck to his clothes, that he owned a cat.

; specifically, philosophy : to infer (see infer 1) from a general principle

2 : to trace the course of

deduce their lineage

—

deducible

play \-ˈd(y)ü-sə-bəl\ adjective

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Examples of deduce in a Sentence

I can deduce from the simple observation of your behavior that you're trying to hide something from me.

Recent Examples of deduce from the Web

Lauren deduced the reviewer’s identity almost immediately; the former client gave himself away with the same dialectical misspellings that littered previous negative reviews on other review websites.

— rick paulas, Longreads, "Sex Workers vs. The Internet," 15 June 2018
And ESA’s Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite (CHEOPS) will measure the diameters of alien planets whose masses are already known, allowing their approximate composition (rocky versus gaseous) to be deduced.

— mike wall, Scientific American, "European Space Agency Picks Exoplanet-Studying Spacecraft for 2028 Launch," 21 Mar. 2018
The script has never been taken particularly seriously — not even by Shakespeare scholars, who deduced that the bard had likely not even written its first two acts.

— christopher arnott, courant.com, "Outdoor Shakespeare This Summer: 'Pericles,' 'Love's Labour's Lost,' 'Hamlet' And...," 9 July 2018
The reasons behind these competing preferences aren’t hard to deduce.

— eric levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "New Study: Trump’s Immigration Agenda May Have Hurt Him in 2016," 3 July 2018
One of my readers did a little detective work, and deduced exactly where the bedlam bungalow is, possibly due to its proximity to the roof cow.

— kevin fisher-paulson, SFChronicle.com, "Cops and copy editors keeping things orderly," 25 June 2018
But Dr Hovy cautions against deducing from software alone who is a victim of trafficking.

— The Economist, "Software that detects human trafficking," 3 May 2018
Still, when Italy can borrow as cheaply as America, the world must be in vastly better shape than rate-doomers deduce.

— ken fisher, USA TODAY, "Investors: Why you shouldn't worry that rates will rise," 10 June 2018
Sources: Yew-Thong Leong, Ryerson University (renderings); Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies (photos) Lacking basic information, the crew has had to deduce Wright’s intentions.

— vipal monga, WSJ, "The Quest to Recover a Lost Frank Lloyd Wright Building," 30 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'deduce.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of deduce

Middle English, from Latin deducere, literally, to lead away, from de- + ducere to lead — more at ¹tow

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

deduce Synonyms

Synonyms

conclude, decide, derive, extrapolate, gather, infer, judge, make out, reason, understand;

Related Words

assume, suppose;

conjecture, guess, speculate, surmise;

construe, interpret, read;

contemplate, philosophize, rationalize, think;

ascertain, dope (out), find out;

Phrases

draw a conclusion;

Synonym Discussion of deduce

infer, deduce, conclude, judge, gather mean to arrive at a mental conclusion. infer implies arriving at a conclusion by reasoning from evidence; if the evidence is slight, the term comes close to surmise.