Meaning & use
induced
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounmedical
Deliberately caused to happen by a person, medicine or process instead of happening on its own.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: induced labor, an induced coma.
Patterns
- induced labor
- induced by something
The patient was kept in an induced coma for two days.
Her induced labor began after the midwife gave her medication.
Researchers studied stress-induced changes in the animals' behavior.
adjectivebefore a nountechnicalphysics
Produced in something, such as electric current, by the action of a nearby field or influence.
Grammar: Used in science and engineering with nouns like current or voltage.
Patterns
- induced current
- induced voltage
A moving magnet creates an induced current in the coil.
The induced voltage drops when the magnet stops moving.
Scientists measured the induced magnetic field around the wire.
Common combinations
- induced labor
- Induced labor can take longer than a spontaneous birth.
- induced coma
- Doctors placed him in an induced coma after the accident.
- induced current
- The induced current lights a small bulb.
- stress-induced
- She suffered from stress-induced headaches.
- drug-induced
- The drug-induced sleep lasted several hours.
Synonyms and how they differ
- artificial
- Artificial describes something man-made or not natural in general, while induced says it was brought about on purpose or by a trigger.
- caused
- Caused is the broad everyday word and does not suggest that anyone planned the effect, unlike induced.
- provoked
- Provoked suggests stirring up a reaction, usually a negative one, so it is narrower than induced.
- triggered
- Triggered stresses the event that set something off, rather than the effect being brought about on purpose.
Opposites
Word family
- induce verb
- to bring about or persuade
- inducement noun
- something that persuades, such as a reward
- induction noun
- the act of inducing, or formal admission into a role
- inductive adjective
- reasoning from examples to a general rule
Commonly confused: induced or deduced? induced or inducted?
induced vs deduced
Deduced means worked out by reasoning, whereas induced means brought about or caused.
induced vs inducted
Inducted means formally admitted to a group or role, as in inducted into a hall of fame.
Practice
Doctors used medication to bring on the birth because it had not started naturally. This is called ___ labor.
Choose one answer.
Induced labor is labor brought on deliberately. Spontaneous is the opposite, and deduced and reduced are not used with labor in this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “induced”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.