# abduction

/æbˈdəkʃən/ (US) · /ɐbdˈʌkʃən/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/abduction
Updated: 2026-09-28

## Senses

### 1. kidnapping

noun · CEFR B2

the act of taking someone away by force, often illegally.

For teachers: the illegal and typically forcible carrying off of a person.

- The police are investigating the abduction of a local businessman.
- The high-profile abduction prompted an immediate nationwide alert, as authorities feared the victim would be moved across the border before dawn.

### 2. moving a limb away

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

the movement of a part of your body away from the middle of your body.

For teachers: the movement of a limb or other part away from the midline of the body or from another part.

- The doctor tested the abduction of my arm to check for shoulder damage.
- The patient demonstrated limited abduction of the hip joint, suggesting significant inflammation within the surrounding connective tissues.

Usage: The term is the functional opposite of adduction.

### 3. by aliens

noun · CEFR B2

the act of being taken away by creatures from another planet.

For teachers: the alleged kidnapping of a human being by extraterrestrial beings.

- He claimed he was a victim of alien abduction while driving home.
- The documentary explores various accounts of alien abduction, focusing on the psychological impact these experiences have on the claimants.

### 4. logical reasoning

noun · CEFR C2 · Academic · Technical

a way of reasoning that starts with an observation and seeks the most likely explanation.

For teachers: a form of logical inference which starts with an observation then seeks to find the simplest and most likely explanation.

- The detective used abduction to guess how the thief entered the locked room.
- Scientific discovery often relies on abduction to generate new hypotheses that can later be tested through more rigorous deductive methods.

Usage: Often contrasted with deduction and induction in philosophical contexts.

### 5. inference to best explanation

noun · CEFR C1

a form of reasoning that starts with an observation and seeks the simplest and most likely conclusion.

For teachers: a mode of logical inference introduced by C.S. Peirce that generates explanatory hypotheses to account for surprising or incomplete observations.

- Finding wet grass in the morning led to the abduction that it rained overnight.
- Diagnostic AI systems rely on automated abduction to synthesize differential clinical diagnoses from patient symptom profiles.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.