deduce

verb

de·duce | \di-ˈdüs,

dē-; chiefly British -ˈdyüs\

deduced; deducing

Definition of deduce

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 sense 1) from a general principle

2 : to trace the course of deduce their lineage

Other Words from deduce Synonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More about deduce

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Choose the Right Synonym for 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. from that remark, I inferred that they knew each other deduce often adds to infer the special implication of drawing a particular inference from a generalization. denied we could deduce anything important from human mortality conclude implies arriving at a necessary inference at the end of a chain of reasoning. concluded that only the accused could be guilty judge stresses a weighing of the evidence on which a conclusion is based. judge people by their actions gather suggests an intuitive forming of a conclusion from implications. gathered their desire to be alone without a word

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 on the Web

From this, Facebook could deduce how many people were in the household, alongside various demographic information. — Adi Robertson, The Verge, "A Facebook patent would use your family photos to target ads," 15 Nov. 2018 Based on several lyrics, Swifties deduced Taylor used Tom as a way of getting out of a relationship with Calvin Harris. — Stacey Grant, Seventeen, "18 Celebs Who Threw Massive Amounts of Shade at Their Exes," 17 Oct. 2018 Recently, however, players deduced that the glitch tends to happen at the same place. — Patricia Hernandez, The Verge, "Red Dead Redemption 2 players find cursed road that always sets horses on fire," 1 Nov. 2018 In June, social media sleuths deduced that there was a date in Paris. — Elise Taylor, Vogue, "Are Bella Hadid and The Weeknd Back Together?," 23 July 2018 While the Yu Yuan crew’s intentions can’t be deduced from the maritime record, anyone examining the ship’s movements might conclude that the Yu Yuan had docked at Nahodka and perhaps received its cargo there. — Joby Warrick, Washington Post, "High seas shell game: How a North Korean shipping ruse makes a mockery of sanctions," 3 Mar. 2018 The existence of the Higgs boson was deduced when particles were made to collide at incredible speeds in the accelerator. — Karen Weintraub, New York Times, "Homer A. Neal, Leader in Physics Who Explored Matter, Dies at 75," 8 June 2018 There were other indications that Corbin’s stuff was not the same, and they could be deduced from the reactions of Dodgers hitters, who routinely laid off his sliders rather than flail at them helplessly as hitters did for most of last month. — Nick Piecoro, azcentral, "Patrick Corbin muddles through outing as Diamondbacks fall to Dodgers," 10 May 2018 It's deduced that Davidson and Grande may have received these new finger tattoos together. — Samantha Sasso, refinery29.com, "Tattoos Unlock The Mystery Of Ariana Grande & Pete Davidson's Relationship," 9 July 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.