What does "inductive" mean?
Inductive: Tending to induce or cause. [R.] They may be . . . inductive of credibility. Sir M. Hale.
Additional senses
- 2.Leading to inferences; proceeding by, derived from, or using, induction; as, inductive reasoning.
- 3.(Physics) (a) Operating by induction; as, an inductive electrical machine. (b) Facilitating induction; susceptible of being acted upon by induction; as certain substances have a great inductive capacity. Inductive embarrassment (Physics), the retardation in signaling on an electric wire, produced by lateral induction. -- Inductive philosophy or method. See Philosophical induction, under Induction. -- Inductive sciences, those sciences which admit of, and employ, the inductive method, as astronomy, botany, chemistry, etc.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00