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Deduce vs Predict - What's the difference?

deduce | predict |

In transitive terms the difference between deduce and predict

is that deduce is to reach a conclusion by applying rules of logic to given premises while predict is to make a prediction: to forecast, foretell, or estimate a future event on the basis of knowledge and reasoning; to prophesy a future event on the basis of mystical knowledge or power.

In obsolete terms the difference between deduce and predict

is that deduce is to take away; to deduct; to subtract while predict is a prediction.

As a noun predict is

a prediction.

deduce

English

Verb

  • To reach a conclusion by applying rules of logic to given premises.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • O goddess, say, shall I deduce my rhymes / From the dire nation in its early times?
  • * John Locke
  • Reasoning is nothing but the faculty of deducing unknown truths from principles already known.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • See what regard will be paid to the pedigree which deduces your descent from kings and conquerors.
  • (obsolete) To take away; to deduct; to subtract.
  • to deduce a part from the whole
    (Ben Jonson)
  • (obsolete, Latinism) To lead forth.
  • * Selden
  • He should hither deduce a colony.

    Usage notes

    For example, from the premises "all good people believe in the tooth fairy" and "Jimmy does not believe in the tooth fairy", we deduce the conclusion "Jimmy is not a good person". This particular form of deduction is called a syllogism. Note that in this case we reach a false conclusion by correct deduction from a false premise.

    Antonyms

    * (reach a conclusion by applying rules of logic)

    Synonyms

    * (reach a conclusion by applying rules of logic)

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    predict

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make a prediction: to forecast, foretell, or estimate a future event on the basis of knowledge and reasoning; to prophesy a future event on the basis of mystical knowledge or power.
  • *1590 , E. Daunce, A Briefe Discourse on the Spanish State , 40
  • *:After he had renounced his father]]s bishoprick of Valentia in Spaine... and to attaine by degrees the Maiesty of , was created Duke of that place, gaue for his poesie, Aut Cesar, aut nihil . which being not fauoured from the heauens, had presently the [[event, euent the same predicted .
  • :2000 , , (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) , xiii.
  • ::Professor Trelawney kept predicting Harry’s death, which he found extremely annoying.
  • :2012 , (Jeremy Bernstein), " A Palette of Particles" in (American Scientist) , Vol. 100, No. 2, p. 146
  • ::The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.
  • To imply.
  • *1886 , Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society , 177. 338
  • *:It is interesting to see how clearly theory predicts the difference between the ascending and descending curves of a dynamo.
  • To make predictions.
  • *1652 , J. Gaule, ???-?????? the mag-astro-mancer , 196
  • *:The devil can both predict and make predictors.
  • (transitive, military, rare) To direct a ranged weapon against a target by means of a predictor.
  • *1943 , L. Cheshire, Bomber Pilot , iii. 57
  • *:They're predicting us now; looks like a barrage.
  • Synonyms

    * (l),

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A prediction.
  • * 1609 , :
  • Or say with Princes if it shall go well, / By oft predict that I in heaven find.