deduction

[dih-duhk-shuh n] /dɪˈdʌk ʃən/
noun
1.
the act or process of deducting; subtraction.
2.
something that is or may be deducted:
She took deductions for a home office and other business expenses from her taxes.
3.
the act or process of deducing.
4.
something that is deduced:
His astute deduction was worthy of Sherlock Holmes.
5.
Logic.
  1. a process of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the premises presented, so that the conclusion cannot be false if the premises are true.
  2. a conclusion reached by this process.
    Compare induction (def 4).
Origin
1400-50; late Middle English deduccioun (< Anglo-French) < Latin dēductiōn- (stem of dēductiō) a leading away. See deduct, -ion
Related forms
nondeduction, noun
prededuction, noun
Can be confused
deduction, extrapolation, induction, generalization, hypothesis.
Examples from the web for deductions
  • In addition to such time deductions, participants are disqualified if they drop anything.
  • He found boring almost every subject but geometry, so beautiful in its deductions, and chemistry.
  • Some of those who do not receive grant aid benefit from federal tax credits and deductions.
  • The money can be paid back either through monthly repayments or through deductions from future benefit payouts.
  • No one would ever tell you net because it depends on your deductions.
  • State policy makers added income-tax deductions of their own.
  • Hence it has been argued that no deductions can be drawn from domestic races to species in a state of nature.
  • The soul has that measureless pride which consists in never acknowledging any lessons or deductions but its own.
  • For unless you include human nature in your addition, your total is sure to be wrong and your deductions from it fallacious.
  • So tempting to extrapolate and generalise and follow runaway deductions.
British Dictionary definitions for deductions

deduction

/dɪˈdʌkʃən/
noun
1.
the act or process of deducting or subtracting
2.
something, esp a sum of money, that is or may be deducted
3.
  1. the process of reasoning typical of mathematics and logic, whose conclusions follow necessarily from their premises
  2. an argument of this type
  3. the conclusion of such an argument
4.
(logic)
  1. a systematic method of deriving conclusions that cannot be false when the premises are true, esp one amenable to formalization and study by the science of logic
  2. an argument of this type Compare induction (sense 4)
Word Origin and History for deductions

deduction

n.

early 15c., "action of deducting," from Middle French déduction or directly from Latin deductionem (nominative deductio), noun of action from past participle stem of deducere (see deduce). Meaning "that which is deducted" is from 1540s. As a term in logic, from Late Latin use of deductio as a loan-translation of Greek apagoge.

deductions in Science
deduction
  (dĭ-dŭk'shən)   

  1. The process of reasoning from the general to the specific, in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the premises.

  2. A conclusion reached by this process.


Our Living Language  : The logical processes known as deduction and induction work in opposite ways. In deduction general principles are applied to specific instances. Thus, using a mathematical formula to figure the volume of air that can be contained in a gymnasium is applying deduction. Similarly, applying a law of physics to predict the outcome of an experiment is reasoning by deduction. By contrast, induction makes generalizations based on a number of specific instances. The observation of hundreds of examples in which a certain chemical kills plants might prompt the inductive conclusion that the chemical is toxic to all plants. Inductive generalizations are often revised as more examples are studied and more facts are known. If certain plants that have not been tested turn out to be unaffected by the chemical, the conclusion about the chemical's toxicity must be revised or restricted. In this way, an inductive generalization is much like a hypothesis.
deductions in Culture

deduction definition


A process of reasoning that moves from the general to the specific. (Compare induction.)

deduction definition


A cost or expense subtracted from revenue, usually for tax purposes.