Deductive
adjective
Related to a type of reasoning or thinking where you begin with a general idea and then figure out the specific details.
His deductive reasoning skills helped him solve the problem.
Often appears as...
- deductive reasoning
- deductive logic
adjective
Involving or using a rule or principle to figure out something.
Deductive methods are used in scientific research to test hypotheses.
Often appears as...
- deductive method
- deductive research
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Related to a type of reasoning or thinking where you begin with a general idea and then figure out the specific details.
His deductive reasoning skills helped him solve the problem.
Often appears as...
- deductive reasoning
- deductive logic
adjective
Involving or using a rule or principle to figure out something.
Deductive methods are used in scientific research to test hypotheses.
Often appears as...
- deductive method
- deductive research
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Top-down Logic
Deductive reasoning starts from a general theory down to specifics.
Using deductive reasoning, she inferred the solution from the overall theory.
Pro Tip 2/3Problem Solving
Use 'deductive' to describe logical problem-solving strategies.
Her deductive approach streamlined the troubleshooting process.
Pro Tip 3/3Contrast with Inductive
Understand the difference from 'inductive'; deductive works from general to specific.
Unlike inductive techniques, his deductive analysis began with an established hypothesis.
Compare with
analyticallogicalmethoderationalreasonsequentialsystematic
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Video examples
Naomi Oreskes: Why we...
We were taught that scientists follow a method and that this method guarantees the truth of their claims. The method that most of us were taught in school, we can call it the textbook method, is the hypothetical deductive method.
Video examples
Can you solve the seven...
three, six, two, three, four, three, six, leaves the rebels nowhere to run. Thanks to your deductive reasoning, order is restored to the galaxy.
Video examples
Naomi Oreskes: Why we...
We were taught that scientists follow a method and that this method guarantees the truth of their claims. The method that most of us were taught in school, we can call it the textbook method, is the hypothetical deductive method.
Video examples
Can you solve the seven...
three, six, two, three, four, three, six, leaves the rebels nowhere to run. Thanks to your deductive reasoning, order is restored to the galaxy.
Example 1 of 2
Quote examples
Bret Weinstein
The button-down empirical and deductive fields, including all the hard sciences, have lived side by side with 'critical theory,' postmodernism and its perception-based relatives. Since the creation in 1960s and '70s of novel, justice-oriented fields, these incompatible worldviews have repelled one another.
Quote examples
William John Wills
English Scientist
You should carefully study the Art of Reasoning, as it is what most people are very deficient in, and I know few things more disagreeable than to argue, or even converse with a man who has no idea of inductive and deductive philosophy.
Quote examples
Stephen Jay Gould
American Scientist
I'm not a great deductive thinker, but I will admit to having competence in a very wide range of things - not being afraid to try to write about baseball, choral music and dinosaurs in the same week and see connections among them.
Quote examples
Michael Imperioli
American Actor
There's an intelligence that goes with being a good cop. Intuitiveness - they have to be actors; they have to have deductive reasoning, knowledge about a great deal of subjects.
Quote examples
Vincent McNabb
Irish Clergyman
The deductive reasons for a course of action usually follow rather than precede the course of action. Thought follows life.
Quote examples
Henry Mayhew
English Journalist
The deductive method is the mode of using knowledge, and the inductive method the mode of acquiring it.
Quote examples
Bret Weinstein
The button-down empirical and deductive fields, including all the hard sciences, have lived side by side with 'critical theory,' postmodernism and its perception-based relatives. Since the creation in 1960s and '70s of novel, justice-oriented fields, these incompatible worldviews have repelled one another.
Quote examples
William John Wills
English Scientist
You should carefully study the Art of Reasoning, as it is what most people are very deficient in, and I know few things more disagreeable than to argue, or even converse with a man who has no idea of inductive and deductive philosophy.
Quote examples
Stephen Jay Gould
American Scientist
I'm not a great deductive thinker, but I will admit to having competence in a very wide range of things - not being afraid to try to write about baseball, choral music and dinosaurs in the same week and see connections among them.
Quote examples
Michael Imperioli
American Actor
There's an intelligence that goes with being a good cop. Intuitiveness - they have to be actors; they have to have deductive reasoning, knowledge about a great deal of subjects.
Quote examples
Vincent McNabb
Irish Clergyman
The deductive reasons for a course of action usually follow rather than precede the course of action. Thought follows life.
Quote examples
Henry Mayhew
English Journalist
The deductive method is the mode of using knowledge, and the inductive method the mode of acquiring it.
Example 1 of 6
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