adj ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Of, pertaining to, or based on deduction (process of reasoning).
2. 2
   Based on inferences from general principles.

   "deductive system of semantics"

Adjective

1. 1
   involving inferences from general principles wordnet
2. 2
   relating to logical deduction wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

deducibleillativeinferentiala fortioria posterioria priori

Antonyms

All antonyms

a posterioriabductiveinductive

Example

More examples

"Basing his conclusion of guilt on deductive reasoning, Sherlock Holmes ratted out his own partner, Watson."

Etymology

From deduct + -ive.

Related phrases

deductive closuredeductive databasedeductive inferencedeductive languagedeductive mooddeductive reasoninghypothetico-deductive

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.