intimation

English

Etymology

From Middle French intimation, from Latin intimatio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪntəˈmeɪʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

intimation (plural intimations)

1. The act of intimating.
2. The thing intimated.
3. Announcement; declaration.
   • 1603, Plutarch, translated by Philemon Holland, The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals , London: Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC:

     They made an edict with an intimation that whosoever killed a stork, should be banished.

4. A hint; an obscure or indirect suggestion or notice; a remote or ambiguous reference.
   • 1679, Gilbert Burnet, The History of the Reformation of the Church of England:

     Without mentioning the king of England, or giving the least intimation that he was sent by him.

   • 1862, Henry David Thoreau, Walking:

     At length, perchance, the immaterial heaven will appear as much higher to the American mind, and the intimations that star it as much brighter.

   • 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 378:

     And actually I had important intimations to communicate as he faced the end. But intimations weren't much use.

Related terms

• intimacy
• intimate

Translations

References

• “intimation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.