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abduction

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English

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 abduction on Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Latin abductiō(n) ("a robbing; an abduction"), from abdūcō ("to take or lead away"), from ab ("away") + dūcō ("to lead").[1] By surface analysis, abduct +‎ -ion or abduce +‎ -tion .

Pronunciation

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Noun

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abduction (countable and uncountable , plural abductions )

  1. A leading away; a carrying away. [from early 17th century.][2]
  2. (anatomy ) The act of abducing or abducting; a drawing apart; the movement which separates a limb or other part from the axis, or middle line, of the body. [from mid-17th century.][2]
    • 2013, Jain MD, MSPH with Wilcox, PT, Katz, MD, MS, and Higgins, MD, "Clinical Examination of the Rotator Cuff", in PM&R Journal‎[1] :
      Abduction is performed by asking the patient to raise the arm at the side as high as they can with the examiner stabilizing the scapula by holding it down.
  3. (logic ) A syllogism or form of argument in which the major premise is evident, but the minor is only probable. [from late 17th century.][2]
    • 2005, Ronnie Cann, Ruth Kempson, Lutz Marten, The Dynamics of Language, an Introduction, page 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.
  4. (law ) The wrongful, and usually forcible, carrying off of a human being. [from mid-18th century.][2]
    the abduction of a child
    • 2026 January 4, Howard LaFranchi, "Seizing Venezuela’s Maduro, Trump implements his corollary to Monroe Doctrine", in The Christian Science Monitor ‎[2] , archived from the original on 7 January 2026:
      Saturday’s actions – the abduction of [Venezuelan] President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas to face federal drug-trafficking charges in the U.S., and the deadly bombings of military installations and some civilian buildings across the country – had "Trump Corollary" written all over them.
  5. (ufology ) An alien abduction.
    • 2010, Monte Dwyer, Red in the Centre: Through a Crooked Lens, Monyer Pty Ltd, page 122:
      But fear of abduction never stopped a good ufologist.

Alternative forms

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Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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leading away, carrying away
physiology: movement separating limb from axis
logic: type of syllogism
law: wrongful carrying off of a human being
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

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  1. ^ Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 2
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), "abduction", in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles , 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 3.

Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin abductiō(n) ("robbing; abduction"), from abdūcō ("take or lead away") + -tiō(n) (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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abduction f (plural abductions )

  1. (physiology ) abductive movement; abduction
  2. (logic , computing ) abductive reasoning; abduction

Further reading

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Interlingua

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Etymology

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From Latin abductiō ("robbing; abduction"), from abdūcō ("take or lead away").

Noun

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abduction (plural abductiones )

  1. abduction

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