intimation

English

Etymology

From Middle French intimation, from Latin intimatio. By surface analysis, intimate +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪntəˈmeɪʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

intimation (countable and uncountable, plural intimations)

1. A hint; an indirect suggestion.
   • 1679, Gilbert Burnet, The History of the Reformation of the Church of England:

     Without mentioning the king of England, or giving the least intimation that he was sent by him.

   • 1862, Henry David Thoreau, Walking:

     At length, perchance, the immaterial heaven will appear as much higher to the American mind, and the intimations that star it as much brighter.

   • 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 378:

     And actually I had important intimations to communicate as he faced the end. But intimations weren't much use.

2. The act of intimating.
3. Announcement; declaration.
   • 1603, Plutarch, translated by Philemon Holland, The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC:

     They made an edict with an intimation that whosoever killed a stork, should be banished.

4. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) The thing intimated.

Derived terms

• preintimation

Related terms

• intimacy
• intimate

Translations

A hint

• Bulgarian: намек (bg) m (namek), подмятане (bg) n (podmjatane)
• Czech: náznak m, naznačení n
• Plautdietsch: Bediedunk f
• Ukrainian: на́тяк m (nátjak)

Announcement; declaration

• Bulgarian: съобщение (bg) n (săobštenie)
• Czech: oznámení (cs) n, zpráva (cs) f
• Spanish: intimación (es) f

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “intimation”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.