adduce

American  

[uh-doos, uh-dyoos] / əˈdus, əˈdjus /

verb (used with object)

• adduces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• adduced,
  past participle,  past
• adducing
  present participle

1. to bring forward in argument or as evidence; cite as pertinent or conclusive.

   to adduce reasons in support of a constitutional amendment.

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adduce British  

/ əˈdjuːs /

verb

1. (tr) to cite (reasons, examples, etc) as evidence or proof

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• adducer
  noun
• adduction
  noun
• adduceable
  adjective
• adducent
  adjective
• adducible
  adjective
• unadduceable
  adjective
• unadduced
  adjective
• unadducible
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• adducing
  present
• adduced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• adduce
  simple
• adduces
  simple
• have adduced
  perfect
• has adduced
  perfect
• am adducing
  progressive
• are adducing
  progressive
• is adducing
  progressive
• have been adducing
  perfect progressive
• has been adducing
  perfect progressive

Past

• adduced
  simple
• had adduced
  perfect
• was adducing
  progressive
• were adducing
  progressive
• had been adducing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will adduce
  simple
• will have adduced
  perfect
• will be adducing
  progressive
• will have been adducing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of adduce

1610–20; < Latin addūcere to bring into, equivalent to ad- ad- + dūcere to lead

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Explanation

When you adduce something, you offer proof in support of an argument. If you’re trying to prove that you didn’t eat the last cookie, you might adduce the fact that your dog’s mouth is covered in cookie crumbs. The word adduce comes from the Latin adducere, which means "to lead or bring along." If you were a lawyer, you might adduce, or bring forth, a witness in order to help your case. You might also adduce a piece of evidence, like a fact, to help with your argument. You might think of the word add to help you remember the definition of adduce: when you adduce something, you are adding to an argument by offering proof.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

adduce adduces adduced adducing

They can neither attack nor defend, adduce facts or employ logic.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2019

The rhetorical challenge is to adduce a unity—akin to herding cats—among a multitude of self-centered interests and causes.

From The New Yorker ● May 20, 2019

Commentators are already attempting to adduce the reasons for the decline in obesity in this age, pointing to the dietary changes in preschool menus, awareness campaigns, and exercise programs that specifically target tots.

From Slate ● Feb. 28, 2014

And there were few whose relationship with jazz was as meaningful; you can adduce clear relationships between his written and oral phrasing and the playing of John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach and Albert Ayler.

From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2014

The loss of the earlier writings renders it impossible to adduce contemporary evidence of the immediate success of this form of literature.

From The Roman Poets of the Republic by W. Y. Sellar

Ms. Rosenwein adduces all the figures in the Old Testament who were said to have lived to fantastic ages.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

But back to your observation: when a student adduces a YouTube video, in terms of professorial ethics, how do you respond?

From Salon ● Nov. 15, 2022

Writing in the show’s catalogue, the art historian Emily Braun adduces, in Fontana, a temperamental identification with “the Fascist viewpoint of a Latin and Catholic culture in epochal conflict with a materialist, Protestant one.”

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 28, 2019

In this column Ross fails to connect the dots he adduces.

From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2017

We have already had occasion to point out that Paul’s pleading with Philemon, and the motives which he adduces, are expressions, on a lower level, of the greatest principles of Christian ethics.

From The Expositor's Bible: Colossians and Philemon by Alexander Maclaren

Ultimately, the huge numbers adduced to support this and other assertions throughout the book seem intended to shock rather than to support serious causal argumentation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025

Later appraisals adduced that the enigmatic piece was an apron, a garment or a military banner, before analysts in 20th century Vienna agreed: It was a headdress.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2025

He wanted a sort of mathematical calculation that could help us determine whether a sentence was true or false based on the evidence adduced for it.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2024

Amanda Hardy, an attorney representing Jinks, issued a statement saying they respect the decision but “believe the judgement was inconsistent with the evidence adduced at trial.”

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2022

In his version of Book I of On the Revolutions the arguments that could be adduced against the movement of the Earth are given a more prominent position.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

At one point, Avenatti reportedly tried to cast doubt over his former client's trustworthiness by adducing Daniel's belief in the paranormal.

From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2022

As Reynolds points out, in the story Dupin dismisses mathematics as a means of adducing abstract truths about morals or human motivation.

From New York Times ● Sep. 29, 2020

Cohn sorted the Republicans into three buckets, adducing historical antecedents for each.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2015

Biographer Papini, adducing no factual discoveries, intends his book to be "a moral and spiritual portrait."

From Time Magazine Archive

First, we find many able naturalists adducing the fossil remains of marine animals as proofs of an event related in Scripture.

From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell

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