Deduce

To reach a conclusion by reasoning from evidence or accepted premises.

Reach for it when praising a conclusion that follows logically from what is known

From the intact seal, Arun deduced that the package had not been opened.

• professional

  conclude

  when emphasizing the final judgment after considering information

  not when Conclude does not reveal whether logic, observation, or mere opinion produced the judgment.

• professional

  extrapolate

  when extending a known pattern beyond the observed data

  not when Extrapolate introduces uncertainty outside the evidence and is not strict deduction.

• professional

  infer

  when evidence supports a likely conclusion that is not stated directly

  not when Infer can be probabilistic, while deduce often suggests a conclusion that follows necessarily.

• professional

  reason

  when the thinking process itself deserves attention

  not when Reason does not necessarily reach a specific conclusion.

• formal

  derive

  when a result follows through calculation or a defined procedure

  not when Derive can produce a formula or value rather than a factual conclusion.

• literary

  surmise

  when limited clues support a tentative explanation

  not when Surmise admits guesswork and is too weak for a logically compelled conclusion.

• guess
• misinfer
• overlook

• deduce from evidence

  Investigators could deduce from the evidence which door had remained locked.

• logically deduce

  Students learned to logically deduce the final relation from two stated premises.

• deduce the cause

  The engineer used the pressure record to deduce the cause of the leak.