Adducing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Offering facts, examples, or reasons to support a claim or argument
2. Bringing forward information or arguments to demonstrate or prove a point
3. Submitting evidence or justifications to strengthen a case or explanation

Etymology: "Adducing" is the present participle of "adduce," and its history is a clear case of a physical sense becoming an abstract one. The Latin verb "addūcere" meant "to lead or bring to," built from "ad-" ("to") and "dūcere" ("to lead"), the same root that gives English "duke," a leader. Middle English took the word as "adducen," and its earliest senses were concrete: bringing someone or something toward a place. Over time the verb moved from leading people to bringing forward things offered as proof. To adduce something is to bring it forward as evidence, so the physical idea of drawing something toward you became the idea of drawing facts toward a conclusion. Its close relative "adduct," which kept the sense of pulling a body part toward the midline, shows the same root in a more literal form.