induce

English

Etymology

From Middle English enducen, borrowed from Latin indūcere, present active infinitive of indūcō (“lead in, bring in, introduce”), from in + dūcō (“lead, conduct”). Compare also abduce, adduce, conduce, deduce, produce, reduce etc. Doublet of endue.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈduːs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdjuːs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːs

Verb

induce (third-person singular simple present induces, present participle inducing, simple past and past participle induced)

1. (transitive) To lead by persuasion or influence; incite or prevail upon.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 58:

     The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.

2. (transitive) To cause, bring about, lead to.

   His meditation induced a compromise.   Opium induces sleep.

   • 2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:

     A mere glance at the plot descriptions of the show’s fourth season is enough to induce Pavlovian giggle fits and shivers of joy.

3. (transitive) To induce the labour of (a pregnant woman).
   • 2014 December 5, Marina Hyde, “Childbirth is as awful as it is magical, thanks to our postnatal ‘care’”, in The Guardian‎:

     By the time of my third, five months ago, I was a right bossy cow about what I wanted because I knew the drill. For reasons I shan’t bore you with, I got them to induce me at 39 weeks, at 10am, with the epidural going in first, and it was all a dream.

4. (physics) To cause or produce (electric current or a magnetic state) by a physical process of induction.
   • 2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30:

     The scientific instruments of the day recorded rapid fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field, as powerful electrical currents flowed through the upper atmosphere. Ships' logs noted observations of the northern lights as far south as the Caribbean, and telegraph systems across the world were disrupted as electrical currents were induced in the copper lines.

5. (transitive, logic) To infer by induction.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To lead in, bring in, introduce.
7. (transitive, obsolete) To draw on, place upon. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Synonyms

• (lead by persuasion or influence): entice, inveigle, put someone up to something
• (to cause): bring about, instigate, prompt, stimulate, trigger, provoke

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "logic"): deduce

Derived terms

• enzyme-inducing medication
• self-induce

Related terms

Translations

References

• “induce”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “induce”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

• uniced

Galician

Verb

induce

1. inflection of inducir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

Verb

induce

1. third-person singular present indicative of indurre

Anagrams

• incude

Latin

Verb

indūce

1. second-person singular present active imperative of indūcō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin indūcere, present active infinitive of indūcō, with senses based off French induire. First attested in 1875.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /inˈdu.t͡ʃe/
• Rhymes: -ut͡ʃe
• Hyphenation: in‧du‧ce

Verb

a induce (third-person singular present induce, past participle indus) 3rd conj.

1. (transitive, literary) to induce, incite, cause or push to do something

   a induce în eroare ― to mislead

2. (transitive, literary) to induce (bring about, cause)
3. (logic) to induce (infer by induction)
4. (transitive, physics) to induce (produce by induction)

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (incite): împinge, îndemna
• (cause): provoca

Related terms

• duce

Further reading

• induce in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Spanish

Verb

induce

1. inflection of inducir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative