infer
Americanverb (used with object)
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infers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
inferred,
past participle, past
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inferring
present participle
-
to derive by reasoning; conclude or judge from premises or evidence.
They inferred his displeasure from his cool tone of voice.
- Synonyms:
- suppose, conjecture, imagine, reason, deduce
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(of facts, circumstances, statements, etc.) to indicate or involve as a conclusion; lead to.
verb (used without object)
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infers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
inferred,
past participle, past
-
inferring
present participle
verb
-
to conclude (a state of affairs, supposition, etc) by reasoning from evidence; deduce
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(tr) to have or lead to as a necessary or logical consequence; indicate
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(tr) to hint or imply
Usage
Infer has been used to mean “to hint or suggest” since the 16th century by speakers and writers of unquestioned ability and eminence: The next speaker criticized the proposal, inferring that it was made solely to embarrass the government. Despite its long history, many usage guides condemn the use, maintaining that the proper word for the intended sense is imply and that to use infer is to lose a valuable distinction between the two words. Although the claimed distinction has probably existed chiefly in the pronouncements of usage guides, and although the use of infer to mean “to suggest” usually produces no ambiguity, the distinction too has a long history and is widely observed by many speakers and writers.
The use of infer to mean imply is becoming more and more common in both speech and writing. There is nevertheless a useful distinction between the two which many people would be in favour of maintaining. To infer means `to deduce', and is used in the construction to infer something from something : I inferred from what she said that she had not been well . To imply (sense 1) means `to suggest, to insinuate' and is normally followed by a clause: are you implying that I was responsible for the mistake?
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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inferrernoun
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misinferverb
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subinferverb
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inferableadjective
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inferrableadjective
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noninferableadjective
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uninferableadjective
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inferablyadverb
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noninferablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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infersimple
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inferssimple
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have inferredperfect
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has inferredperfect
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am inferringprogressive
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are inferringprogressive
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is inferringprogressive
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have been inferringperfect progressive
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has been inferringperfect progressive
Past
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inferredsimple
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had inferredperfect
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was inferringprogressive
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were inferringprogressive
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had been inferringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of infer
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin inferre, equivalent to in- + ferre “to bring, carry, bear”; see origin at in- 2, bear 1
Explanation
When you infer something, you read between the lines. To infer is to make a well informed guess — if you see your mom’s bag on the table, you might infer that she’s home. When you infer, you listen closely to someone and guess at things they mean but haven't actually said. It’s like guessing, but not making wild guesses. You're making deductions — guesses based on logic. Another kind of inferring is more scientific, like when a scientist has part of a dinosaur fossil and can infer what the rest of the dinosaur looked like. When you see the word infer, think "educated guess."
Vocabulary lists containing infer
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 1
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Vocabulary of the Common Core
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Both Steinbeck and Zoe Kazan infer that something happened to Cathy when she was very young.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026
Location data is any kind of data which can be used to infer a person's location.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Investors were left to infer his views, and the guesses ranged from a chairman who would delay hikes as long as possible to one who was ready to raise rates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
"That material is normally permanently buried -- we can only infer what's there. Here, a catastrophic event essentially turned these ancient moons inside out, and we get to see what was hidden inside."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
“You infer correctly, ” said Blanche. in behalf of/on behalf of.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
Alexander would die far from home in the palace at Babylon—Mr. Richardson infers typhoid—in 323 B.C.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Rather than randomly sampling the noise term, their approximation technique infers the missing term from the current 3D shape rendering.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 4, 2024
Estonia's NLP algorithms break down a request into small segments, identify key words, and from that infers what user wants.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2024
This season's action infers that maybe the law is less practical in dealing with people like Gator and Roy than a sense of justice and a fierce survival instinct.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2023
He infers, however, that oil wells in the vicinity of auriferous deposits may yield a larger quantity of gold than from oil wells situated in carboniferous strata.
Near the cluster's center, the shape of the intracluster light closely matches the distribution of dark matter inferred from strong gravitational lensing.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
Meink didn’t say, but the range can be inferred from published accounts about the kinds of space-control weapons that Russia or China has launched and tested.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
But when intent is inferred, intent to destroy the group “must be the only reasonable inference which can be drawn from the pattern of conduct.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Lawyers for Rockstar said there was nothing in the signatures that could identify them as union members, but Oram told the tribunal it could be "inferred" who was by those who handed in the petition.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
In the absence of written records, the evidence of those prehistoric replacements must be sought in the archaeological record or inferred from linguistic evidence.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
A senior living alone might not fully understand what the robot in the corner is observing, inferring or reporting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Not all of the King's speech needed inferring.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
But TS Lombard economist Dario Perkins said inferring anything of value from the chart would actually be a mistake.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2025
However, Stas acknowledges that the companion is still inferring and reflecting back a user’s cues.
From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2025
Those include confounding effects of natural variation in additional variables besides the one of interest, as well as problems in inferring chains of causation from observed correlations between variables.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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