induceverb/ɪnˈduːs/

• 1

  To lead by persuasion or influence; incite or prevail upon.

  • The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.
• 2

  To cause, bring about, lead to.

  • His meditation induced a compromise. Opium induces sleep.
  • A mere glance at the plot descriptions of the show’s fourth season is enough to induce Pavlovian giggle fits and shivers of joy.
• 3

  To induce the labour of (a pregnant woman).

  • By the time of my third, five months ago, I was a right bossy cow about what I wanted because I knew the drill. For reasons I shan’t bore you with, I got them to induce me at 39 weeks, at 10am, with the epidural going in first, and it was all a dream.
• 4

  natural-sciencesphysical-sciencesphysicsTo cause or produce (electric current or a magnetic state) by a physical process of induction.

  • The scientific instruments of the day recorded rapid fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field, as powerful electrical currents flowed through the upper atmosphere. Ships' logs noted observations of the northern lights as far south as the Caribbean, and telegraph systems across the world were disrupted as electrical currents were induced in the copper lines.
• 5

  human-scienceslogicmathematicsTo infer by induction.

• 6

  obsoleteTo lead in, bring in, introduce.

• 7

  obsoleteTo draw on, place upon.