imply

English

Etymology

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

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈplaɪ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Hyphenation: im‧ply

Verb

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

   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.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     And in his bosome secretly there lay / An hatefull Snake, the which his taile vptyes / In many folds, and mortall sting implyes.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (to have as a necessary consequence): entail
• (to suggest tacitly): allude, hint, insinuate, suggest, (proscribed) infer

Related terms

Translations

See also

Further reading

• “imply”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “imply”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.