Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To lead or move, as to a course of action, by influence or persuasion. synonym: persuade.
  • transitive verb To bring about or stimulate the occurrence of; cause.
  • transitive verb To infer by inductive reasoning.
  • transitive verb To produce (an electric current or a magnetic charge) by induction.
  • transitive verb To produce (radioactivity, for example) artificially by bombardment of a substance with neutrons, gamma rays, and other particles.
  • transitive verb Biochemistry To initiate or increase the production of (an enzyme or other protein) at the level of genetic transcription.
  • transitive verb Genetics To cause an increase in the transcription of the RNA of (a gene).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To lead in; bring in; introduce.
  • To draw on; place upon.
  • To lead by persuasion or influence; prevail upon; incite.
  • To lead to; bring about by persuasion or influence; bring on or produce in any way; cause: as, his mediation induced a compromise; opium induces sleep.
  • In physics, to cause or produce by proximity without contact or apparent transmission, as a particular electric or magnetic condition in a body, by the approach of another body which is in an opposite electric or magnetic state.
  • To infer by induction.
  • Synonyms and Impel, Induce, etc. See actuate, and list under incite.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To lead in; to introduce.
  • transitive verb A Latinism To draw on; to overspread.
  • transitive verb To lead on; to influence; to prevail on; to incite; to persuade; to move by persuasion or influence.
  • transitive verb To bring on; to effect; to cause.
  • transitive verb (Physics) To produce, or cause, by proximity without contact or transmission, as a particular electric or magnetic condition in a body, by the approach of another body in an opposite electric or magnetic state.
  • transitive verb (Logic) To generalize or conclude as an inference from all the particulars; -- the opposite of deduce.
  • transitive verb (Genetics, Biochemistry) To cause the expression of (a gene or gene product) by affecting a transcription control element on the genome, either by inhibiting a negative control or by activating a positive control; to derepress.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To lead by persuasion or influence; incite.
  • verb transitive To cause, bring about, lead to.
  • verb physics To cause or produce (electric current or a magnetic state) by a physical process of induction.
  • verb transitive, logic To infer by induction.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To lead in, bring in, introduce.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To draw on, place upon.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb produce electric current by electrostatic or magnetic processes
  • verb reason or establish by induction
  • verb cause to occur rapidly
  • verb cause to arise
  • verb cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English inducen, from Old French inducer, from Latin indūcere : in-, in; see in– + dūcere, to lead; see deuk- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English enducen, 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.

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