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imply

/ɪmˈplaɪ//ɪmˈplaɪ/·verb
to suggest something without stating it directly
Fig. 1 — 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.
01Definition

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.

02In use
  • iHer tone seemed to imply that the decision had already been made.
  • iiThe report never says so outright, but it implies that oversight was lax.
  • iiiA subtle pause can imply far more than the words themselves.
03Collocations
  • imply that
  • strongly imply
  • seem to imply
  • imply a meaning
  • what are you implying

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

04Relations

=suggest, hint, insinuate, intimate, indicate

≠state, express, spell out

05Compared
PairThe difference
imply vs inferthe source implies; the audience infers — a writer implies, a reader infers.
06TOEFL & 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'.

07Asked
What is the difference between imply and suggest?
They overlap, but imply is stronger and more indirect: the meaning is genuinely there, folded into the words, left for you to uncover ('his tone implied contempt'). Suggest is softer and can be open — you can suggest an idea out loud. To imply is always to hint without stating; to suggest can mean simply to propose.
What does 'implied' mean?
Understood without being said outright — 'an implied criticism', 'implied consent'. Something implied is really present in the situation or the words, but it was never stated directly; you read it between the lines. In law, an implied term is one a court treats as part of a contract even though no one wrote it down.
What does 'implication' mean?
Two things, depending on context. It is the noun for what is implied — 'the implication was that he lied'. It also means a consequence or knock-on effect — 'the implications of the new policy'. And 'by implication' means indirectly, as a logical result. All three keep the core: something following on that was not spelled out.
What is the difference between imply and insinuate?
Insinuate is imply with a sneer. Both hint rather than state, but insinuate always carries something unpleasant or underhand — a nasty suggestion slipped in sideways ('he insinuated that she'd cheated'). You can imply something perfectly neutral or even kind; insinuate is almost always an accusation made without the courage to say it plainly.
What does 'what are you implying?' mean?
It challenges a hidden meaning someone seems to be hinting at — 'what are you implying?' means 'say plainly what you're suggesting about me'. It is usually defensive or wary, spoken when you sense an unflattering hint under someone's words. The scene above is the trigger: every thread pointing at one blank card, the accusation made by arrangement, never named.
What is the difference between imply and infer?
The quick tell: the speaker or writer implies (drops the hint), while the listener or reader infers (draws it out). The full contrast, with both animated scenes, is on the imply vs infer page in the 'Compared' list above.