SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
deduce
verb
To reach a conclusion by reasoning from known facts or premises.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Conclude by reasoning
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topIn formal logic, deduction follows from premises; ordinary infer is broader.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See deduce in use
From the dates on the letters, she could deduce which journey occurred first.
Back at the newsroom, the journalist's analysis compared the message times, entrance log, and two witnesses' accounts. She marked one inference carefully: because the driver asked for entry, he probably did not have a working access code. That conclusion was reasonable but had not been stated directly by the driver. She could deduce something narrower from the confirmed timestamps: the access request preceded the organizer's reply, a sequence established by the records rather than by someone's guess.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license