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
- Correlation does not imply causation
- 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, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- And in his bosome secretly there lay / An hatefull Snake, the which his taile vptyes / In many folds, and mortall sting implyes.
Usage notes[edit]
- This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Conjugation[edit]
Conjugation of imply
| infinitive | (to) imply | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | imply | implied | |
| 2nd-person singular | imply, impliest† | implied, impliedst† | |
| 3rd-person singular | implies, implieth† | implied | |
| plural | imply | ||
| subjunctive | imply | implied | |
| imperative | imply | — | |
| participles | implying | implied | |
Synonyms[edit]
- (to have as a necessary consequence): entail
- (to suggest tacitly): allude, hint, insinuate, suggest, (proscribed) infer
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to have as a consequence
|
to suggest by a logical inference
|
to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement
|
See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “imply”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “imply”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
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