Do not confuse this word with inducement. (1) Production or causation. (2) Production of an electric current or magnetic state in a body by electricity or magnetism in an adjacent body. (3) The period from the start of anesthetization to the establishment of a depth of anesthesia adequate for a surgical procedure. (4) In embryology, the influence exerted by an organizer or evocator on the differentiation of adjacent cells or on the development of an embryonic structure. (5) A modification imposed on an offspring by the action of the environment on the germ cells of one or both parents. (6) In microbiology, the change from probacteriophage to vegetative phage that may occur spontaneously or after stimulation by certain physical and chemical agents. (7) In enzymology, the process of increasing the amount or the activity of a protein.inducer. (8) A stage in the process of hypnosis. (9) Causal analysis; a method of reasoning in which an inference is made from one or more specific observations to a more general statement. Cf.: deduction (10) Inactivation of a repressor in gene regulation. [L. inductio, a leading in]