induction

  1. Noun.  the act of inducting.
  2. Noun.  a formal ceremony in which a person is appointed to an office or into military service.
  3. Noun.  (physics) the generation of an electric current by a varying magnetic field.
  4. Noun.  (logic) the derivation of general principles from specific instances.
  5. Noun.  (mathematics) A general proof of a theorem by first proving it for a specific integer (for example) and showing that, if it is true for one integer then it must be true for the next.
  6. Noun.  (theater) The 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.
  7. Noun.  (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.
  8. Noun.  (obsolete) an introduction.
  9. Noun.  the act of inducing childbirth.

This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.

This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.