abduction

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[edit] English

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[edit] Etymology

From Latin abductiō (“‘robbing; abduction’”), from abdūcō (“‘take or lead away’”). Compare French abduction.

[edit] Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA: /æbˈdʌk.ʃən/

[edit] Noun

Singular
abduction

Plural
abductions

abduction (plural abductions)

  1. (A date for this quote is being sought): The act of abducing or abducting; a drawing apart; a carrying away. — Roget
  2. (physiology) The movement which separates a limb or other part from the axis, or middle line, of the body.
  3. (law) The wrongful, and usually the forcible, carrying off of a human being.
    • the abduction of a child
    • the abduction of an heiress
  4. (logic) A syllogism or form of argument in which the major is evident, but the minor is only probable.
    • 2005, Ronnie Cann, Ruth Kempson, Lutz Marten, The Dynamics of Language, an Introduction, p. 256
      The significance of such a step is that it is not morphologically triggered: it is a step of abduction, and what is required here is a meta-level process of reasoning.
  5. (computing) The process of inference to the best explanation; abductive reasoning.
  6. (education) The process used in getting students to see disciplinary regularity through the use of metaphor.
  7. Determining the best or most plausible of many possible explanations for a set of facts.

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Related terms

[edit] Translations

act of abducing or abducting
physiology: movement separating limb from axis
law: carrying off of a human being
logic: syllogism
computing: process of inference
education: process used in getting students to see disciplinary regularity
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[edit] Shorthand

[edit] Gregg

[edit] References

[edit] French

[edit] Pronunciation

  • IPA: abdyksjɔ̃

[edit] Etymology

From Latin abductiō (“‘robbing; abduction’”), from abdūcō (“‘take or lead away’”).

[edit] Noun

abduction f. (plural abductions)

  1. (physiology) Abductive movement; abduction.
  2. (logic, computing) Abductive reasoning; abduction.
  3. (ufology) An alien abduction.

[edit] Interlingua

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[edit] Noun

abduction

  1. abduction
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