Inducing is usually gentle persuasion; you may, for instance, induce a friend to go to a concert, or induce a child to stop crying. An inducement is something that might lure you to do something, though inducements are occasionally a bit menacing, like the Godfather's offer that you can't refuse. Induce also sometimes means "produce;" thus, doctors must at times induce labor in a pregnant woman. Notice that induct and induction are somewhat different from induce and inducement, though they come from the identical roots.
The advertisement is meant to induce people to eat more fruit. No one knows what induced him to leave. Her illness was induced by overwork. They will induce labor to avoid complications.
Recent Examples on the WebBlue microbeads soaked in SCUBE3 protein induce new hair growth in mice (right).WIRED, 8 Sep. 2022 As a warm front lifts northward across the Plains, the sticky air mass that settles in and the daytime heating from the sun will help induce thunderstorm development into the early afternoon hours. Derek Van Dam, CNN, 12 May 2022 With their second child due three weeks later, Haley — with the help of her doctors — made the decision to induce labor early to give Jb an opportunity to meet his new son. Jason Duaine Hahn, PEOPLE.com, 16 Dec. 2021 But bug bounty experts questioned whether the payment Uber gave to the hackers fell within the ethical boundaries of such programs, which are designed to induce people to report security flaws so they can be fixed. Kate Conger, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2020 Research on infections shows that the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants seem to induce stronger immune response than BA.1 and BA.2. Jen Christensen, CNN, 4 Aug. 2022 Vaccines are designed to induce a strong and long-lasting immune response through the creation of specialty immune system cells, called memory T cells and B cells. Julie Washington, cleveland, 16 July 2022 So, even when viral genes would normally induce STAND to kill cells, these STAND inhibitors allowed the cells to continue growing. John Timmer, Ars Technica, 15 Aug. 2022 There's still plenty of exposure, which means the whims of the market could induce more misery. Julia Horowitz, CNN, 2 Aug. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Anglo-French inducer, from Latin inducere, from in- + ducere to lead — more at tow entry 1