ENGLISH
REFERENCE

deduce

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //dɪˈdus// UK //dɪdjˈuːs// de·duce Academic Archaic

v. to find out something by using your logic and the facts you already know. You use this when you reach a conclusion based on evidence.

v. to infer a conclusion from evidence or reasoning. Transitive — requires a direct object representing the conclusion or fact being reached.


SIMPLE

I can deduce that he is lying from his nervous behavior.

CONTEXTUAL

By analyzing the crime scene and the witness statements, the detective was able to deduce the suspect's identity.

COMPLEX

The philosopher argued that one can deduce the existence of a higher power from the intricate design of the natural world, though this remains a point of significant debate among modern scholars.

Synonyms
Origin

From Late Middle English deducen (“to demonstrate, prove, show; to argue, infer; to bring, lead; to turn (something) to a use; to deduct”), borrowed from Latin dēdūcere, the present active infinitive of dēdūcō (“to lead or bring out or away; to accompany, conduct, escort; (figuratively) to derive, discover, deduce”); from dē- (prefix meaning ‘from, away from’) + dūcere (the present active infinitive of dūcō (“to conduct, guide, lead; to draw, pull; to consider, regard, think”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to lead; to draw, pull”)).

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