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

Illustration: Ruth Gwily Beyond statistics, however, there are also literary insights that can be deduced from the Great American Read list. — Adam Kirsch, WSJ, "The Way We Read Now," 3 Aug. 2018 Each year, scientists from the inventory—one of perhaps a dozen programs that study penguins in the wild—travel to Antarctica aboard cruise ships to deduce the numbers by counting nests. — Jo Craven Mcginty, WSJ, "Counting Penguins Isn’t Always Black and White," 2 Nov. 2018 The specific timing allowed PortSmash to deduce the key being processed in another logical core of the same processor. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, "Intel CPUs fall to new hyperthreading exploit that pilfers crypto keys," 2 Nov. 2018 And physical markings can be studied to deduce the specific tools used to build the bomb, which can narrow the search for where and how it was made. — Kevin Dupzyk, Popular Mechanics, "The Technology of Pipe Bombs and Suspicious Packages, Explained," 25 Oct. 2018 The Bosch electronics deduce that the back wheel is in the air and adjust the rear shock’s damping to help soften the impact of the big bike coming back to earth. — Nick Goddard, Popular Mechanics, "Road Tested: 2019 Ducati Multistrada Enduro 1260," 24 Oct. 2018 Through triangulation, the process of determining a location within known points, the Hollingsworths deduced that the treasure was at the Palace of Fine Arts. — Bill Van Niekerken, San Francisco Chronicle, "When the Emperor Norton Treasure Hunt turned San Francisco upside down," 8 May 2018 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

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.