lexicow

imply

/ɪmˈplaɪ//ɪmˈplaɪ/·verb
A detective's pin board: photographs and notes tacked to the cork, and red strings running from each of them inward to a single card in the middle. One by one the threads converge on that card — and it is left blank but for a question mark. Every line of evidence points at the same spot, so the answer is plainly there, and never named. A hand presses the centre pin and slips back into the shadow. Nothing is written down; the arrangement alone does the pointing, sideways, for someone else to read.
|

Definition

To imply is to carry a meaning without saying it outright — from the Latin implicare, 'to fold in', the sense tucked inside the words rather than laid on top of them. A tone can imply disapproval; a report can imply blame while naming no one. The meaning is really there, just left for the other side to pick up. This is the half of the pair people get wrong: the speaker or writer implies, while the listener or reader is the one who must infer what was meant.

Examples

  • Her tone seemed to imply that the decision had already been made.
  • The report never says so outright, but it implies that oversight was lax.
  • A subtle pause can imply far more than the words themselves.

Collocations

imply that·strongly imply·seem to imply·imply a meaning·what are you implying

Synonyms

suggest·hint·insinuate·intimate·indicate

Antonyms

state·express·spell out

See also

Word family

implication (noun)·implied (adjective)·implicit (adjective)

In TOEFL & IELTS

The classic TOEFL/IELTS trap is imply vs. infer: a speaker or text implies (gives the hint), a listener or reader infers (draws it out). Reading questions love 'the author implies that…'. Learn the noun 'implication' and the adjective 'implicit' (implied, not stated). Don't write 'the passage infers' when you mean 'implies'.