infer
Americanverb (used with object)
-
infers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
inferred,
past participle, past
-
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
-
(of facts, circumstances, statements, etc.) to indicate or involve as a conclusion; lead to.
verb (used without object)
-
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
-
(tr) to have or lead to as a necessary or logical consequence; indicate
-
(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
-
inferrernoun
-
misinferverb
-
subinferverb
-
inferableadjective
-
inferrableadjective
-
noninferableadjective
-
uninferableadjective
-
inferablyadverb
-
noninferablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
infersimple
-
inferssimple
-
have inferredperfect
-
has inferredperfect
-
am inferringprogressive
-
are inferringprogressive
-
is inferringprogressive
-
have been inferringperfect progressive
-
has been inferringperfect progressive
Past
-
inferredsimple
-
had inferredperfect
-
was inferringprogressive
-
were inferringprogressive
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Vocabulary of the Common Core
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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 are focusing on the Bank of Japan’s policy meeting and Gov. Kazuo Ueda’s press conference later Friday to infer the pace of future rate increases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 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
Given this background, one could infer, if one did not know it already, the general structure of Oceanic society.
From "1984" by George Orwell
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
"The depth infers that it's probably natural. Natural events typically occur at those depths," Salvage said at the time.
From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2023
It is true, that they all have false ideas, but this by no means infers, a defect of the power by which sensations are apprehended in the mind.
From Observations on Insanity With Practical Remarks on the Disease and an Account of the Morbid Appearances on Dissection by John Haslam
Many Fed watchers inferred that their comments reflected a broader consensus among officials that the Fed could wait until December to raise interest rates again.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
The finding also suggests that Cretaceous mammals may not have been as anatomically varied as scientists might have inferred from their teeth alone.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 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
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
The Amsterdam News reported the planned meeting and many readers inferred that we were establishing our beginning mosque in the Theresa.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
It’s not even a case of inferring reality from a dog that didn’t bark.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 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
The other is growing the right branches, that is, inferring how the words are supposed to join up in phrases.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
