Daily tip: good usage vs. common usage #6 - Adduce, deduce, induce.

adduce; deduce; induce.

To adduce is to give as a reason, offer as a proof, or cite as an example, e.g. as evidence of reliability, she adduced her four years of steady volunteer work as a nurse’s aide.

Deduce and induce are opposite processes.

To deduce is to reason from general principles to specific conclusions, or to draw a specific conclusion from general bases e.g. from these clues about who committed the crime, one deduces that the butler did it.

To induce is to form a general principle based on specific observations e.g. after years of studying ravens, the researchers induced a few of their social habits.