imply

[im-plahy]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR imply ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), im·plied, im·ply·ing.

to indicate or suggest without being explicitly stated: His words implied a lack of faith.

(of words) to signify or mean.

to involve as a necessary circumstance: Speech implies a speaker.

Obsolete. to enfold.

Origin of imply

1325–75; Middle English implien, emplien < Middle French emplier < Latin implicāre; see implicate

Related formsre·im·ply, verb (used with object), re·im·plied, re·im·ply·ing.su·per·im·ply, verb (used with object), su·per·im·plied, su·per·im·ply·ing.

Can be confusedimply infer (see usage note at infer)

Synonyms for imply

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR imply ON THESAURUS.COM

3. assume, include.

Usage note

See infer.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for implies

signify, entail, hint, suggest, involve, mention, include, intend, intimate, connote, betoken, evidence, insinuate, import, denote, presuppose, refer, designate

Examples from the Web for implies

Contemporary Examples of implies

The skit also implies that executive orders are a new aspect of governance.
SNL Parodies Schoolhouse Rock Hilariously, Gets A Lot Wrong
Jack Holmes, The Daily Beast Video
November 24, 2014
Not the least is what it implies for the financing of the project.
Virgin Galactic’s Flight Path to Disaster: A Clash of High Risk and Hyperbole
Clive Irving
November 1, 2014
It implies that GMOs are the opposite of butterflies and blades of grass.
Whole Foods' Anti-GMO Swindle
Michael Schulson
September 15, 2014
I'll give you $10,000, and you provide me with a platform to continue my feud, he implies.
#IceBucketChallenge Wisdom From 'Jackass' Steve-O
Kevin Zawacki
August 21, 2014
The agent maintained that at least one of the tweets “implies to me an interest in trying to travel to Syria.”
The Mystery of Donald Ray Morgan, the 44-Year-Old American Who Loved ISIS
Michael Daly
August 12, 2014

Historical Examples of implies

It implies a pre-existing something, inwrapped as a germ in its environment.
Life: Its True Genesis
R. W. Wright
In its common, or generally received, acceptation, it implies two things.
The Politician Out-Witted
Samuel Low
All matter is magnetic in some degree, and that implies polarity.
The Machinery of the Universe
Amos Emerson Dolbear
Then everything which is and is not in a certain state, implies change?
Parmenides
Plato
And each part, as the word 'each' implies, is also an absolute one.
Parmenides
Plato

British Dictionary definitions for implies

imply

verb -plies, -plying or -plied (tr; may take a clause as object)

to express or indicate by a hint; suggestwhat are you implying by that remark?

to suggest or involve as a necessary consequence

logic to enable (a conclusion) to be inferred

obsolete to entangle or enfold

Word Origin for imply

C14: from Old French emplier, from Latin implicāre to involve; see implicate

xref

See infer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for implies

imply

late 14c., "to enfold, enwrap, entangle" (the classical Latin sense), from Old French emplier, from Latin implicare "involve" (see implication). Meaning "to involve something unstated as a logical consequence" first recorded c.1400; that of "to hint at" from 1580s. Related: Implied; implying. The distinction between imply and infer is in "What do you imply by that remark?" But, "What am I to infer from that remark?"