imply
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English implien, emplien, borrowed from Old French emplier, from Latin implicare (“to infold, involve”), from in (“in”) + plicare (“to fold”). Doublet of employ and implicate.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɪmˈplaɪ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪ
- Hyphenation: im‧ply
Verb[edit]
imply (third-person singular simple present implies, present participle implying, simple past and past participle implied)
- (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 hint; to insinuate; to suggest tacitly and avoid a direct statement
- What do you mean "we need to be more careful with hygiene"? Are you implying that I don't wash my hands?
- (archaic) 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:
Usage notes[edit]
- This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Synonyms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to have as a consequence
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to suggest by a logical inference
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to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement
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See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- imply in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- imply in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms borrowed from Old French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with archaic senses
- en:Communication
