deduce

as in to derive
to form an opinion or reach a conclusion through reasoning and information I can deduce from the simple observation of your behavior that you're trying to hide something from me

Synonyms & Similar Words

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How is the word deduce distinct from other similar verbs?

Some common synonyms of deduce are conclude, gather, infer, and judge. While all these words mean "to arrive at a mental conclusion," 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

Where would conclude be a reasonable alternative to deduce?

The words conclude and deduce can be used in similar contexts, but conclude implies arriving at a necessary inference at the end of a chain of reasoning.

concluded that only the accused could be guilty

When can gather be used instead of deduce?

The words gather and deduce are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, gather suggests an intuitive forming of a conclusion from implications.

gathered their desire to be alone without a word

When could infer be used to replace deduce?

While the synonyms infer and deduce are close in meaning, 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

When is judge a more appropriate choice than deduce?

While in some cases nearly identical to deduce, judge stresses a weighing of the evidence on which a conclusion is based.

judge people by their actions

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of deduce Flask samples still deduce sources’ CO2 fingerprints. Ashley Braun, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 May 2025 But the nature of all idioms is that their meaning cannot be deduced from their components; the phrase kicked the bucket does not put the English speaker in the mind of an actual bucket, just as the word death does not remind him terribly of the letter D. Andrea Long Chu, Vulture, 6 May 2025 Image Image The researchers deduced that the tax scheme was designed to escape notice, which meant careful detective work was required to piece together what happened. Franz Lidz, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025 In the lesson, students deduce the correct path by jumping on colored dots to find their way across six multi-hued rows. Joshua Rhett Miller, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for deduce
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deduce
Verb
  • Naturally derived emulsifiers may not always be better.
    Fran Kritz, Verywell Health, 30 May 2025
  • This includes Francoise Bettencourt Meyers of France, an heiress to the L’Oreal fortune who is worth $86 billion, by far the largest fortune to derive from a pure beauty company.
    Jemima McEvoy, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025
Verb
  • To understand how the deportation dragnet works, TIME joined ICE officers on a pair of morning raids in the New Orleans area.
    Eric Cortellessa, Time, 10 June 2025
  • Ranked from the top, they are understood to be The Eastern Gate, The Thaw, Spain’s When No One Sees Us, X-rated Queen, and A Decent Man.
    Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 10 June 2025
Verb
  • Clalit, after a review, decided to dismiss the complaint against Qasem Hassan.
    Eyal Press, New Yorker, 9 June 2025
  • The attorney general said that after the Supreme Court sided with Glossip earlier this year, his office reviewed the merits of the case against him and decided there is sufficient evidence to secure another conviction.
    Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 9 June 2025
Verb
  • At the heart of this code disclosure is something called the Fact Graph, a dry name for a tool that is quietly revolutionary: a logic engine that parses ambiguous tax scenarios and infers relationships while consistently applying tax rules.
    Andrew Leahey, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025
  • The machine responded: one word, then another, and another—each new term inferred from the patterns buried in those seven thousand books.
    Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 19 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Deduce.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deduce. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.

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