induce
Americanverb (used with object)
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induces,
present (3rd person singular)
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induced,
past participle, past
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inducing
present participle
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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.
- Antonyms:
- dissuade
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to bring about, produce, or cause.
That medicine will induce sleep.
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Physics. to produce (an electric current) by induction.
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Logic. to assert or establish (a proposition about a class of phenomena) on the basis of observations on a number of particular facts.
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Genetics. to increase expression of (a gene) by inactivating a negative control system or activating a positive control system; derepress.
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Biochemistry. to stimulate the synthesis of (a protein, especially an enzyme) by increasing gene transcription.
verb
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(often foll by an infinitive) to persuade or use influence on
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to cause or bring about
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med to initiate or hasten (labour), as by administering a drug to stimulate uterine contractions
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obsolete logic to assert or establish (a general proposition, hypothesis, etc) by induction
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to produce (an electromotive force or electrical current) by induction
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to transmit (magnetism) by induction
Synonym Usage
See persuade.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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inducernoun
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preinduceverb (used with object)
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reinduceverb (used with object)
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inducibleadjective
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noninducibleadjective
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uninducibleadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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inducesimple
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inducessimple
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have inducedperfect
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has inducedperfect
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am inducingprogressive
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are inducingprogressive
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is inducingprogressive
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have been inducingperfect progressive
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has been inducingperfect progressive
Past
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inducedsimple
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had inducedperfect
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was inducingprogressive
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were inducingprogressive
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had been inducingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of induce
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Latin indūcere “to lead or bring in, introduce,” equivalent to in- in- 2 + dūcere “to lead”; cf. adduce, deduce, reduce
Explanation
To induce is to move or lead someone to action. A promise of a lollipop can induce a toddler to do just about anything, even sit down and be polite to Aunt Edna. Older kids need something more substantial. Some people believe that if you offer someone a large enough sum of money, you could induce them to do almost anything. But a movie heroine might say to the villain, "Nothing could induce me to marry you. Not all the money in the world. Not if you were the last man on Earth!" Induce also means to stimulate the occurrence of something, such as medications used to induce vomiting, or to induce a pregnant woman to go into labor.
Vocabulary lists containing induce
Lead the Way: Duc and Duct
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This Week in Words: Feb. 25 - Mar. 2, 2018
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Twelfth Night
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"This promotes production of the metabolite N1-acetylspermidine, which contributes to the ability of butyrate-treated IEC-conditioned medium to induce IL-10 production in CD4⁺ T-cells."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
If you’ve never been in a Dulles people mover, you might be puzzled by the white-hot hatred they induce.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
Though he knows both Ellis’ and Murphy’s work tends to induce “strong reactions,” he also hopes people will see beyond the “movie poster exterior.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
“That’s lying to induce people to support you.”
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
Many of the counter-intuitive results cited in this book are psychological tricks similar to the above, which can induce a kind of innumeracy in even the most numerate.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
And while much of the movie induces sidesplitting guffaws, Tremaine said that producer and co-creator Spike Jonze was eager to highlight the sensitive beats shared between the cast.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
It is used in combination with a second drug misoprostol, which induces cramping.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
"A provider induces infringement if it actively encourages infringement through specific acts," it said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
"We showed that the complex actually induces blood-brain barrier leakage, when the proteins alone did not," Simões-Pires says.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2025
It induces a kind of psychological claustrophobia that makes one yearn not only for freedom of movement but spiritual escape.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
As Mr. Riley explains in a footnote, “this disclosure notified the terrorists that their communications were not secure and thus induced them to change methods.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
“By no act, or direction of mine, official or private, could I be induced to aid, knowingly, in giving circulation to papers of this description, directly or indirectly,” he explained.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026
All told, the U.S. aluminum sector anchors roughly 700,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs, with over $228 billion in economic output.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
The treated mice were also more resistant to chemically induced colitis.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
What induced them to do this is not known, but Creon urged it and Oedipus’ sons consented to it.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
But Snell avoided further damage by inducing Jordan Beck to fly out and Cole Carrigg to strike out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Tanner Scott replaced him and got out of the jam by inducing Waldschmidt to fly out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
The centre of this anticyclone will shift eastwards on Tuesday, inducing warm south-easterly flows across much of the UK, with a lot of dry weather.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
It signals to every counterparty transacting with a designated party that it could be next, inducing it to sever its ties to Iranian-linked finance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
The hot exposed solar interior will flood the shell with ultraviolet light, inducing a lovely red and blue fluorescence extending beyond the orbit of Pluto.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
