inference

American  

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

noun

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

• misinference noun
• preinference noun
• superinference noun

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

The shift to so-called inference computing is roiling the semiconductor industry, as AI labs rush to find more chips and improve the cost-efficiency of their computing power.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

As the AI industry shifts from training to inference, or the process of running AI models, memory chips have become crucial to supporting larger, more complex models that can reason.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 17, 2026

The AI castle on a hill boasts best performance/watt training and inference.

From Barron's • Apr. 17, 2026

Those 1990s light-up sneakers were ahead of their time, and hyperscale cloud computing for model training and inference workloads would be the perfect follow-up.

From Barron's • Apr. 16, 2026

They showed me how to be precise in notation, acute in investigation, and rational in inference.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

Related Words

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