educe

American  

[ih-doos, ih-dyoos] / ɪˈdus, ɪˈdjus /

verb (used with object)

• educes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• educed,
  past participle,  past
• educing
  present participle

1. to draw forth or bring out, as something potential or latent; elicit; develop.

2. to infer or deduce.

---

educe British  

/ ɪˈdjuːs, ɪˈdʌktɪv /

verb

1. to evolve or develop, esp from a latent or potential state

2. to draw out or elicit (information, solutions, etc)

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• educible
  adjective
• eductive
  adjective
• uneduced
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• educing
  present
• educed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• educe
  simple
• educes
  simple
• have educed
  perfect
• has educed
  perfect
• am educing
  progressive
• are educing
  progressive
• is educing
  progressive
• have been educing
  perfect progressive
• has been educing
  perfect progressive

Past

• educed
  simple
• had educed
  perfect
• was educing
  progressive
• were educing
  progressive
• had been educing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will educe
  simple
• will have educed
  perfect
• will be educing
  progressive
• will have been educing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of educe

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin ēdūcere, equivalent to ē- e- ¹ + dūcere to lead

Explanation

When you educe you first see the potential in something and then develop it. An artist sketching on scratch paper might later educe a painting from the casual sketches. Educe can also be used as a synonym for deduce, meaning "to reach a conclusion." Suppose members of a jury have to decide whether someone is guilty of stealing. They use the facts in the case to educe the thief's motivation. Educe comes from the Latin word ducere, meaning "lead." Think of educe as leading to something else.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

educe educes educed educing

Every song in her discographical universe matters, and any surprise song she chooses will invariably educe outpourings of jubilation.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2023

I think that there should’ve been more discussion of what we educe from his philosophy about these issues of privacy and personal liberty that appear discussed at length in his book.

From Slate ● Mar. 28, 2017

He spreads them out, classifies them; then pores, probes, weighs, analyzes, to educe both a composite picture of the author and a meticulous evaluation of the cumulus itself.

From Time Magazine Archive

And they admire the wisdom that could thus educe so much good out of so great evil.

From The Religion of Geology and Its Connected Sciences by Edward Hitchcock

There fell a pause, Joan contemptuously staring away through the glimmering rain-drops, Austin desperately casting about for a conversational opening less calculated than its predecessors to educe rebuffs.

From Joan Thursday by Louis Joseph Vance

Because terrorism educes such strong emotions, it has led to at least five myths.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 19, 2013

Mr. Crowther, a skilled publicist, lengthily educes the candidate's fitness for office from his record in other offices.

From Time Magazine Archive

I cannot conclude my letter better, than by assuring my dear ——, that such is the trust and confidence we all repose in the Being, who out of evil still educes good.”

From Samboe; or, The African Boy by Mary Ann Hedge

Moreover, this tender and pitiful Saviour is the Almighty One who rules both this and the invisible world, and who "from every evil still educes good."

From American Woman's Home by Catharine Esther Beecher

His pontificate, however, was not without its use; since that Providence, which still educes good from evil, made the scandal, which it occasioned to the Christian world, a principal spring of the glorious Reformation.

From The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic — Volume 3 by William Hickling Prescott

In 2013, the Serbian player Viktor Troicki was given an 18-month ban, which was later educed to 12 months, for declining a blood test at a tournament.

From New York Times ● Apr. 10, 2018

He educed a knowing chuckle from the inscrutable Mona Lisa, and screwed up his rubbery face with Chaplinesque glee as Baby Doll rolled out of her famed crib.

From Time Magazine Archive

I recalled what I could of how I had been educed, at age twelve.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Light, so far from being solely derived from the sun, exists in, and can be educed from, almost any known substance.

From Fables of Infidelity and Facts of Faith Being an Examination of the Evidences of Infidelity by Robert Patterson

It was the same hand, the same mind, the same feeling that had been educed in her to me and through me.

From The Youth of Goethe by Peter Hume Brown

As a straight actor, he has the uncanny knack of educing raw emotions from himself and his audience.

From Time Magazine Archive

It will always be true, therefore, that the lazy and the pompous will have no aim beyond educing monosyllabic answers.

From Sunday-School Success A Book of Practical Methods for Sunday-School Teachers and Officers by Amos R. Wells

Whether the subject be the ‘Newspaper People,’ ‘Spiritualism,’ ‘London Gents.’ or ‘Criminal London,’ he has the happy disposition of educing good and ennobling lessons and influence from each and all.—Press.

From About London by J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie

This view of latency collates a lot of facts—secondary sexual characters in each individual; tendency of latent character to appear temporarily in youth; effect of crossing in educing talent, character, etc.

From More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 1 by Sir Francis Darwin

I cannot go   Where Universal Love not smiles around,   Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their suns;   From seeming evil still educing good,   And better thence again, and better still,   In infinite progression.

From English Poets of the Eighteenth Century by Ernest Bernbaum