- de|duc|tion
- de|duc|tion «dih DUHK shuhn», noun.1. the act of taking away; subtraction: »
No deduction from one's pay is made for absence due to illness.
SYNONYM(S): reduction.2. an amount deducted: »There was a deduction of $50 from the bill for damage caused by the movers.
SYNONYM(S): rebate, discount.3. a reaching of conclusions by reasoning; inference. A person using deduction reasons from general laws to particular cases. Example: All animals die; this cat is an animal; therefore, this cat will die.4. a thing deduced; conclusion: »Sherlock Holmes reached his clever deductions by careful study of the facts.
Usage Deduction, induction are names of opposite processes of reasoning, the two ways in which we think. Deduction applies to the process by which one starts with a general principle that is accepted as true, applies it to a particular case, and arrives at a conclusion that is true if the starting principle was true, as in »All female mammals secrete milk; this is a female mammal; therefore, this will secrete milk.
Induction applies to the process by which one collects many particular cases, finds out by experiment what is common to all of them, and forms a general rule or principle which is probably true, as in »Every female mammal I have tested secreted milk; probably all female mammals secrete milk.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.