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Which activity often requires inference?

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inference

American  

[in-fer-uhns, -fruhns] / ˈɪn fər əns, -frəns /

noun

• inferences
  plural

1. 

   the act or process of inferring.

2. something that is inferred.

   to make rash inferences.

3. Logic.

   1. the process of deriving the strict logical consequences of assumed premises.

   2. the process of arriving at some conclusion that, though it is not logically derivable from the assumed premises, possesses some degree of probability relative to the premises.

   3. a proposition reached by a process of inference.

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inference British  

/ ˈɪnfərəns, -frəns /

noun

1. the act or process of inferring

2. an inferred conclusion, deduction, etc

3. any process of reasoning from premises to a conclusion

4. logic the specific mode of reasoning used See also deduction induction

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inference Cultural  

1. In logic, the deriving of one idea from another. Inference can proceed through either induction or deduction.

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inference Idioms  

1. see draw an inference.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misinference
  noun
• preinference
  noun
• superinference
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• inferences
  plural

Etymology

Origin of inference

From the Medieval Latin word inferentia, dating back to 1585–95. See infer, -ence

Explanation

An inference is an idea or conclusion that's drawn from evidence and reasoning. An inference is an educated guess. We learn about some things by experiencing them first-hand, but we gain other knowledge by inference — the process of inferring things based on what is already known. When you make an inference, you're reading between the lines or just looking carefully at the facts and coming to conclusions. You can also make faulty inferences. If you hear a person's weight is 250 pounds, you might make the inference that they're overweight. But what if they're seven feet tall?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

inference inferences

But serving those same models to users, a process known as inference, can often be done with considerably smaller amounts of chips, Lochmiller said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

He noted that growth drivers such as inference, enterprise AI and physical AI are still ahead, and that major AI-infrastructure companies have signaled that demand will likely continue outpacing supply into at least next year.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

He noted that AI-related benefits for most infrastructure software companies will come from user adoption and the rise of inference, or the process of AI models making predictions based on what they’ve learned.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

Spending could shift from training the next model toward expanding inference capacity and improving reliability, the market strategist says in a note.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

“Sure,” Shanti said, picking up on the inference.

From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray

Moreover, one need not rely on inferences from data.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

"People are making behavioral inferences from fossils, and some say a monkey can't vertically climb as well as an ape can," said first study author Luke Fannin, assistant professor of anthropology at Ohio State.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

In June, passenger demand fell 1.7% globally, or 0.6% excluding the Middle East, according to the International Air Transport Association, although Nastro said it’s difficult to draw inferences about U.S. trends from global data.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

They can analyze data and make predictive inferences.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026

Conditional Probability, Blackjack, and Drug Testing One needn’t be a believer in any of the standard pseudosciences to make faulty claims and invalid inferences.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Related Words

• assumption
• conjecture
• interpretation
• presumption
• reasoning
• supposition