Wiktionary

imply

English

edit

Etymology

edit

From Middle English implien, emplien, borrowed from Old French emplier, from Latin implicare (“to infold, involve”), from in (“in”) + plicare (“to fold”). Doublet of employ and implicate.

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

imply (third-person singular simple present implies, present participle implying, simple past and past participle implied)

  1. (transitive, of a proposition) to have as a necessary consequence; to lead to (something) as a consequence
    Correlation does not imply causation
    The proposition that "all dogs are mammals" implies that my dog is a mammal.
  2. (transitive, of a person) to suggest by logical inference
    When I state that your dog is brown, I am not implying that all dogs are brown.
  3. (transitive, of a person or proposition) to hint; to insinuate; to suggest tacitly and avoid a direct statement
    What do you mean "we need to be more careful with hygiene"? Are you implying that I don't wash my hands?
  4. (archaic) to enfold, entangle.

Usage notes

edit

Conjugation

edit
Conjugation of imply
infinitive (to) imply
present tense past tense
1st-person singular imply implied
2nd-person singular imply, impliest† implied, impliedst†
3rd-person singular implies, implieth† implied
plural imply
subjunctive imply implied
imperative imply —
participles implying implied

†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

edit
edit

Translations

edit

See also

edit

Further reading

edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=imply&oldid=82361156"