deduce

Definition

To reach (a conclusion) by applying rules of logic or other forms of reasoning to given premises or known facts.

Etymology

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”)).

Example Sentences

• "[T]he puritan buyldeth directly vpon the proteſtants firſt groundes in religion, & deduceth therof clearly and by ordinary conſequence al his concluſions, which the proteſtant cannot deny by divinity, but only by pollicy & humane ordination, or by turning to catholique anſwers contrary to ther owne principles: […]"
• "[T]hoſe principles or firſt poſitions, have no diſcordance with that reaſon, which draweth downe and diduceth the inferiour poſitions."
• "Laſtly, One way more there may be of miſtake, at that not unuſuall among us, grounded upon a double compute of the year; the one beginning from the 25 of March, the other from the day of our birth unto the ſame again, which is the naturall account. Now hereupon many men frequently miſcaſt their daies; for in their age they diduce the account not from the day of their birth, but the year of our Lord, wherein they were born."

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