INDUCTIVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does inductive mean? 

• INDUCTIVE (adjective)
  The adjective INDUCTIVE has 3 senses:

1. arising from inductance

2. of reasoning; proceeding from particular facts to a general conclusion

3. inducing or influencing; leading on

  Familiarity information: INDUCTIVE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INDUCTIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Arising from inductance

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

inductive reactance

Domain category:

electricity (a physical phenomenon associated with stationary or moving electrons and protons)

Pertainym:

inductance (an electrical phenomenon whereby an electromotive force (EMF) is generated in a closed circuit by a change in the flow of current)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of reasoning; proceeding from particular facts to a general conclusion

Context example:

inductive reasoning

Also:

synthetic; synthetical (of a proposition whose truth value is determined by observation or facts)

a posteriori (involving reasoning from facts or particulars to general principles or from effects to causes)

Domain category:

logic (the branch of philosophy that analyzes inference)

Antonym:

deductive (involving inferences from general principles)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Inducing or influencing; leading on

Synonyms:

inducive; inductive

Context example:

inductive to the sin of Eve

Similar:

causative (producing an effect)

 Context examples 

The material is a mixture of two types of magnetic particles: one for inductive heat, and one with strong magnetic attraction and shape-memory polymers to help lock various shape changes into place.

(Tiny magnetic particles enable new material to bend, twist and grab, National Science Foundation)

“Yes, gentlemen,” said he, “it is the most famous pearl now existing in the world, and it has been my good fortune, by a connected chain of inductive reasoning, to trace it from the Prince of Colonna’s bedroom at the Dacre Hotel, where it was lost, to the interior of this, the last of the six busts of Napoleon which were manufactured by Gelder & Co., of Stepney.”

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Within the endocardium, specific inductive events appear to activate NF-ATc: it is localized to the nucleus only in endocardial cells that are adjacent to the interface with the cardiac jelly and myocardium, which are thought to give the inductive stimulus to the valve primordia.

(NFAT Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)