Infer vs. Imply: Usage Guide
Sir Thomas More is the first writer known to have used both infer and imply in their approved senses in 1528 (with infer meaning "to deduce from facts" and imply meaning "to hint at"). He is also the first to have used infer in a sense close in meaning to imply (1533). Both of these uses of infer coexisted without comment until some time around the end of World War I. Since then, the "indicate" and "hint or suggest" meanings of infer have been frequently condemned as an undesirable blurring of a useful distinction. The actual blurring has been done by the commentators. The "indicate" sense of infer, descended from More's use of 1533, does not occur with a personal subject. When objections arose, they were to a use with a personal subject (which is now considered a use of the "suggest, hint" sense of infer). Since dictionaries did not recognize this use specifically, the objectors assumed that the "indicate" sense was the one they found illogical, even though it had been in respectable use for four centuries. The actual usage condemned was a spoken one never used in logical discourse. At present the condemned "suggest, hint" sense is found in print chiefly in letters to the editor and other informal prose, not in serious intellectual writing. The controversy over the "suggest, hint" sense has apparently reduced the frequency with which the "indicate" sense of infer is used.
Synonyms
Examples of imply in a Sentence
Dan Walters, Orange County Register, 11 Apr. 2024
The shame and disgrace that this implies cannot be expunged.
—Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2024
This change implies a significant improvement in job security.
—John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 9 Apr. 2024
So, while the Panthers need another top-notch wide receiver, the depth of the draft class implies that cornerback should be a more urgent fix.
—Mike Kaye, Charlotte Observer, 9 Apr. 2024
David’s stubbornness would imply that there’s always a chance for the show to return.
—Esther Zuckerman, Rolling Stone, 8 Apr. 2024
Fans whose enjoyment had slipped into affection had (the show implied) committed a moral error.
—Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2024
The statement by China — which implied sovereignty and ownership of the island — follows weeks of escalating tension in East Asia.
—Timothy H.j. Nerozzi Fox News, Fox News, 6 Apr. 2024
That such an event occurs in the same place only once every 300 to 400 years does not imply, however, that the phenomenon is rare in general.
—Geraldine Castro, WIRED, 6 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'imply.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near imply
Cite this Entry
“Imply.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imply. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
imply
verb
Legal Definition
imply
transitive verb
Haase v. Starnes, 915 S.W.2d 675 (1996)
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