Deduce
What it means
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.
Words to choose between 6
| professional |
|
|---|---|
| formal | |
| literary |
-
professional
conclude
Fits when emphasizing the final judgment after considering information
Careful Conclude does not reveal whether logic, observation, or mere opinion produced the judgment.
-
professional
extrapolate
Fits when extending a known pattern beyond the observed data
Careful Extrapolate introduces uncertainty outside the evidence and is not strict deduction.
-
professional
infer
Fits when evidence supports a likely conclusion that is not stated directly
Careful Infer can be probabilistic, while deduce often suggests a conclusion that follows necessarily.
-
professional
Fits when the thinking process itself deserves attention
Careful Reason does not necessarily reach a specific conclusion.
-
formal
derive
Fits when a result follows through calculation or a defined procedure
Careful Derive can produce a formula or value rather than a factual conclusion.
-
literary
surmise
Fits when limited clues support a tentative explanation
Careful Surmise admits guesswork and is too weak for a logically compelled conclusion.
Opposites 3
- guess
- misinfer
- overlook
Common phrases 3
-
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.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Dvortygirl, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Updated