imply
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Old French emplier, from Latin implicare (“to infold, involve”), from in (“in”) + plicare (“to fold”)
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Verb
imply (third-person singular simple present implies, present participle implying, simple past and past participle implied)
- (obsolete) to enfold, entangle.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.iv:
- And in his bosome secretly there lay / An hatefull Snake, the which his taile vptyes / In many folds, and mortall sting implyes.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.iv:
- (transitive, of a proposition) to have as a necessary consequence
- The proposition that "all dogs are mammals" implies that my dog is a mammal
- (transitive, of a person) to suggest by logical inference
- When I state that your dog is brown, I am not implying that all dogs are brown
- (transitive, of a person or proposition) to express in a suggestive manner rather than as a direct statement; to state tacitly
- What do you mean "we need to be more careful with hygiene"? Are you implying that I don't wash my hands?
[edit] Usage notes
- This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
[edit] Synonyms
- (to have as a necessary consequence): entail
- (express in a suggestive manner): allude, hint, insinuate, suggest
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
to have as a consequence
to suggest by a logical inference
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to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- imply in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- imply in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
