abduction

English

Etymology

From Latin abductiō (“robbing; abduction”), from abdūcō (“take or lead away”), from ab (“away”) + dūcō (“to lead”).[1] Equivalent to abduct +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əbˈdʌk.ʃn̩/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /æbˈdʌk.ʃn̩/, /æbˈdək.ʃn̩/, /əbˈdək.ʃn̩/
  • (anatomy sense): (for emphasis and disambiguation from adduction) IPA(key): /ˈeɪ.ˈbiː.dʌk.ʃn̩/

Noun

abduction (countable and uncountable, plural abductions)

  1. Leading away; a carrying away. [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. [Mid 17th century.][2]
    • 2013, Jain, MD, MSPH; Wilcox, PT; Katz, MD, MS; Higgins, MD, "Clinical Examination of the Rotator Cuff", PM&R Journal, retrieved from PubMed Central on 21 Jan 2018.
      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. [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. [Mid 18th century.][2]
    the abduction of a child
  5. (ufology) 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.

Usage notes

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References
  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. 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

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin abductiōnem (“robbing; abduction”), from abdūcō (“take or lead away”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ab.dyk.sjɔ̃/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

abduction f (plural abductions)

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

Further reading

Interlingua

Etymology

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

Noun

abduction (plural abductiones)

  1. abduction
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