inkling
- a slight suggestion or indication; hint; intimation: They hadn't given us an inkling of what was going to happen.
- a vague idea or notion; slight understanding: They didn't have an inkling of how the new invention worked.
Origin of inkling
Related Words for inkling
indication, hunch, impression, conception, intimation, lead, hint, innuendo, whisper, tip, cue, suspicion, suggestion, notion, glimmering, tipoffExamples from the Web for inkling
Contemporary Examples of inkling
Based on the way they sprang into action on Friday, his family had more than an inkling of what might be ahead.
SB Shooting Prompts Question: Should Parents of Mentally Ill Adults Be Able To Commit Them?Eleanor Clift
May 30, 2014
I took the elevator up to the second floor without any inkling of what was about to happen.
Did he figure out all at once that Walt was Heisenberg, or do you think that he had an inkling earlier?
Perhaps that should have been the first inkling that this might not be a totally kosher idea.
Her testimony was necessarily brief, as she had never met Valle, or had any inkling that he was stalking her.
Historical Examples of inkling
A day's visit from Paris will give you an inkling of this, but only an inkling.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
Then the parson had his first inkling that the strange visitor must be mad.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
I should judge, from that, he has an inkling of its value, and wants merely to corroborate it.
A Woman IntervenesRobert Barr
When they had had sufficient to eat and drink he allowed them to get an inkling of what was in his mind.
The Chinese Fairy BookVarious
Force was useless: in some trick lay the chance; and I had already an inkling of what we must do.
The Prisoner of ZendaAnthony Hope
inkling
- a slight intimation or suggestion; suspicion
Word Origin for inkling
Word Origin and History for inkling
c.1400, apparently from the gerund of Middle English verb inclen "utter in an undertone, hint at, hint" (mid-14c.), which is of unknown origin; perhaps related to Old English inca "doubt, suspicion."