deduce

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb reason by deduction; establish by deduction
  2. verb conclude by reasoning; in logic

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”)).

In classic literature

Synonyms

infer, deduct, derive

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