In*duct"ive (?), a. [LL. inductivus: cf. F. inductif. See Induce.]
1.
Leading or drawing; persuasive; tempting; -- usually followed by to.
A brutish vice,
Inductive mainly to the sin of Eve.
Milton.
2.
Tending to induce or cause.
[R.]
They may be . . . inductive of credibility.
Sir M. Hale.
3.
Leading to inferences; proceeding by, derived from, or using, induction; as, inductive reasoning.
4. Physics (a)
Operating by induction; as, an inductive electrical machine.
(b)
Facilitating induction; susceptible of being acted upon by induction; as certain substances have a great inductive capacity.
Inductive embarrassment Physics, the retardation in signaling on an electric wire, produced by lateral induction. -- Inductive philosophy ∨ method. See Philosophical induction, under Induction. -- Inductive sciences, those sciences which admit of, and employ, the inductive method, as astronomy, botany, chemistry, etc.
© Webster 1913.