induction

Etymology

From Old French induction, from Latin inductiō, from indūcō (“I lead”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdʌkʃən/
• Rhymes: -ʌkʃən

Noun

induction (countable and uncountable, plural inductions)

1. An act of inducting.
   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     I know not you; nor am I well pleased to make this time, as the affair now stands, the induction of your acquaintance.

   • Shakespeare

     These promises are fair, the parties sure, / And our induction full of prosperous hope.

   1. A formal ceremony in which a person is appointed to an office or into military service.
   2. The process of showing a newcomer around a place where they will work or study.
2. An act of inducing.
   • 2002, Gilbert S. Banker & Christopher T. Rhodes, Modern Pharmaceutics, 4th edition, Informa Health Care, →ISBN, page 699:

     One of the first examples of the immunogenicity of recombinantly derived antibodies was with murine anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (OKT3) used in the induction of immunosupression after organ transplantation.

   1. (physics) Generation of an electric current by a varying magnetic field.
   2. (logic) Derivation of general principles from specific instances.
   3. (mathematics) A method of proof of a theorem by first proving it for a specific case (often an integer; usually 0 or 1) and showing that, if it is true for one case then it must be true for the next.
   4. (theater) Use of rumors to twist and complicate the plot of a play or to narrate in a way that does not have to state truth nor fact within the play.
   5. (biology) In developmental biology, the development of a feature from part of a formerly homogenous field of cells in response to a morphogen whose source determines the feature's position and extent.
3. (medicine) The process of inducing the birth process.
4. (obsolete) An introduction.
   • Massinger

     This is but an induction: I will draw / The curtains of the tragedy hereafter.

Etymology

From Latin inductio.

Noun

induction f (plural inductions)

1. induction

Further reading

• “induction” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).