Abductive Reasoning is a form of inference that starts from observations and seeks the most plausible explanation for them. Unlike deduction, it supports a reasonable hypothesis rather than a conclusively proven result.
(Also abduction.) A form of logical inference which starts with an observation or set of observations then seeks to find the simplest and most likely explanation. This process, unlike deductive reasoning, yields a plausible conclusion but does not positively verify it. abductive inference,