induction Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a formal entry into an organization or position or office
    initiation; installation.
    • his initiation into the club
    • he was ordered to report for induction into the army
    • he gave a speech as part of his installation into the hall of fame
  2. noun an electrical phenomenon whereby an electromotive force (EMF) is generated in a closed circuit by a change in the flow of current
    inductance.
  3. noun reasoning from detailed facts to general principles
    generalisation; generalization; inductive reasoning.
  4. noun stimulation that calls up (draws forth) a particular class of behaviors
    elicitation; evocation.
    • the elicitation of his testimony was not easy
  5. noun the act of bringing about something (especially at an early time)
    • the induction of an anesthetic state
  6. noun an act that sets in motion some course of events
    initiation; trigger.

WordNet

In*duc"tion noun
Etymology
L. inductio: cf. F. induction. See Induct.
Definitions
  1. The act or process of inducting or bringing in; introduction; entrance; beginning; commencement.
    I know not you; nor am I well pleased to make this time, as the affair now stands, the induction of your acquaintance. Beau. & Fl.
    These promises are fair, the parties sure, And our induction dull of prosperous hope. Shak.
  2. An introduction or introductory scene, as to a play; a preface; a prologue. Obs.
    This is but an induction: I will daw The curtains of the tragedy hereafter. Massinger.
  3. (Philos.) The act or process of reasoning from a part to a whole, from particulars to generals, or from the individual to the universal; also, the result or inference so reached.
    Induction is an inference drawn from all the particulars. Sir W. Hamilton.
    Induction is the process by which we conclude that what is true of certain individuals of a class, is true of the whole class, or that what is true at certain times will be true in similar circumstances at all times. J. S. Mill.
  4. The introduction of a clergyman into a benefice, or of an official into a office, with appropriate acts or ceremonies; the giving actual possession of an ecclesiastical living or its temporalities.
  5. (Math.) A process of demonstration in which a general truth is gathered from an examination of particular cases, one of which is known to be true, the examination being so conducted that each case is made to depend on the preceding one; -- called also successive induction.
  6. (Physics) The property by which one body, having electrical or magnetic polarity, causes or induces it in another body without direct contact; an impress of electrical or magnetic force or condition from one body on another without actual contact. "scientific method" is now considered as the latter, rather than the former! Syn. -- Deduction. -- Induction, Deduction. In induction we observe a sufficient number of individual facts, and, on the ground of analogy, extend what is true of them to others of the same class, thus arriving at general principles or laws. This is the kind of reasoning in physical science. In deduction we begin with a general truth, which is already proven or provisionally assumed, and seek to connect it with some particular case by means of a middle term, or class of objects, known to be equally connected with both. Thus, we bring down the general into the particular, affirming of the latter the distinctive qualities of the former. This is the syllogistic method. By induction Franklin established the identity of lightning and electricity; by deduction he inferred that dwellings might be protected by lightning rods.

Webster 1913