verb (used with object), in·duced, in·duc·ing.
- to lead or move by persuasion or influence, as to some action or state of mind: to induce a person to buy a raffle ticket.
- to bring about, produce, or cause: That medicine will induce sleep.
- Physics. to produce (an electric current) by induction.
- Logic. to assert or establish (a proposition about a class of phenomena) on the basis of observations on a number of particular facts.
- Genetics. to increase expression of (a gene) by inactivating a negative control system or activating a positive control system; derepress.
- Biochemistry. to stimulate the synthesis of (a protein, especially an enzyme) by increasing gene transcription.
verb (tr)
- (often foll by an infinitive) to persuade or use influence on
- to cause or bring about
- med to initiate or hasten (labour), as by administering a drug to stimulate uterine contractions
- logic obsolete to assert or establish (a general proposition, hypothesis, etc) by induction
- to produce (an electromotive force or electrical current) by induction
- to transmit (magnetism) by induction
late 14c., “to lead by persuasions or other influences,” from Latin inducere “lead into, bring in, introduce, conduct, persuade,” from in- “into, in, on, upon” (see in- (2)) + ducere “to lead” (see duke (n.)). Meaning “to bring about,” of concrete situations, etc., is from early 15c.; sense of “to infer by reasoning” is from 1560s. Electro-magnetic sense first recorded 1777. Related: Induced; inducing.
v.
- To bring about or stimulate the occurrence of something, such as labor.
- To initiate or increase the production of an enzyme or other protein at the level of genetic transcription.
- To produce an electric current or a magnetic charge by induction.