Dictionary

imply en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ɪmˈplaɪ/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

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.

Meanings

1. (of a proposition, transitive) To have as a necessary consequence; to lead to (something) as a consequence.
   • Correlation does not imply causation
   • Our upper bound is the best possible, and it implies the existence of low-rank factorizations of positive semidefinite bivariate matrix polynomials and representations of biforms as sums of few squares. 2016, Grigoriy Blekherman, Daniel Plaumann, Rainer Sinn, Cynthia Vinzant, “Low-Rank Sum-of-Squares Representations on Varieties of Minimal Degree”, in arXiv:
   • The proposition that "all dogs are mammals" implies that my dog is a mammal.
2. (of a person, transitive) To suggest by logical inference.
   • When I state that your dog is brown, I am not implying that all dogs are brown.
3. (of a person or proposition, transitive) To hint; to insinuate; to suggest tacitly and avoid a direct statement.
   • Naturally, the river wasn't wrinkled or creased at all— wrong words, implying something unfluid like skin, something unenduring, prey to age. 2019, Margaret Laurence, The Diviners:
   • Both French and English had once used parcel to refer to pieces of land that made up an estate, but when it evolved to imply an item of business in both, it retained its connotations of small fragmentariness in French, whereas in English it simply meant a package. 2022, R. F. Kuang, Babel, HarperVoyager, page 470:
   • The wrongminded notion of the feminist movement which implied it was anti-male carried with it the wrongminded assumption that all female space would necessarily be an environment where patriarchy and sexist thinking would be absent. 2013, Margaret Helen Hobbs, Carla Rice, Gender and Women's Studies in Canada: Critical Terrain, →ISBN, page 13:
   • 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.
   • And in his bosome secretly there lay / An hatefull Snake, the which his taile vptyes / In many folds, and mortall sting implyes. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

impliable · implier · misimply

Relateds

implicit · implication · implicitness · implicate · implicative · connotation · entail

Synonyms

implicate · moot · hint · wrap up · allude · insinuate · advert · imply · imply · ensnare · implicate · involve · tangle · allude · implicate · indicate · hint · entail · import · envelop · enmesh · ensnarl · foul · snarl · refer · inkle · suggest · ravel · mat · insinuate · intimate · suggest · infer · signify · entangle · ensnare

Translations (103)

pl pociągać (za sobą) (to have as a consequence) · fi väittää (to suggest by a logical inference) · hu sejtet (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · no insinuere (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · es dar a entender (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · cs naznačit (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · ru предполага́ть (to have as a consequence) · ja ほのめかす (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · fi antaa ymmärtää (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · cmn 暗指 (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · pt acarretar (to have as a consequence) · tr gerektirmek (to have as a consequence) · hu sugall (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · tr manasına getirmek (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · ru намека́ть (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · gd seaghaich (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · hu maga után von (to have as a consequence) · ca insinuar (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · ru подразумева́ть (to suggest by a logical inference) · de sagen wollen (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · cs implikovat (to have as a consequence) · pl sugerować (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · nb innebære (to have as a consequence) · ca implicar (to have as a consequence) · es acarrear (to have as a consequence) · el υπονοώ (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · th พูดเป็นนัย (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · es conllevar (to have as a consequence) · sv insinuera (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · be намякаць (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · no implisere (to suggest by a logical inference) · bg подразбирам (to suggest by a logical inference) · nb implisere (to have as a consequence) · tr işaret etmek (to have as a consequence) · ar اِنْطَوَى (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · nn implisere (to have as a consequence) · fi vihjata (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · fr impliquer (to suggest by a logical inference) · pt insinuar (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · ga tabhair le fios (to suggest by a logical inference) · es implicar (to have as a consequence) · es insinuar (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · sv implicera (to have as a consequence) · de implizieren (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · sv antyda (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · pt ter como consequência (to have as a consequence) · fi tarkoittaa (to suggest by a logical inference) · cmn 意味着 (to have as a consequence) · ga tabhair le fios (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · de bedeuten (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · nn medføre (to have as a consequence) · bg загатвам (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · fr impliquer (to have as a consequence) · da antyde (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · de zur Folge haben (to have as a consequence) · ca implicar (to suggest by a logical inference) · fr sous-entendre (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · ca comportar (to have as a consequence) · fr insinuer (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · is benda til (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · es implicar (to suggest by a logical inference) · tr kastetmek (to suggest by a logical inference) · da implicere (to have as a consequence) · da insinuere (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · de implizieren (to suggest by a logical inference) · bg намеквам (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · ru намекну́ть (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · io implikar (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · nb medføre (to have as a consequence) · io implikar (to suggest by a logical inference) · cmn 暗示 (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · nb antyde (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · it implicare (to have as a consequence) · uk мати на увазі (to suggest by a logical inference) · ga tabhair le fios (to have as a consequence) · fi seurata (to have as a consequence) · nl suggereren (to suggest by a logical inference) · fi merkitä (to have as a consequence) · fi vihjailla (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · hu céloz (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · fa به طور ضمنی اشاره کردن (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · hu következtetni enged (to have as a consequence) · hu akar(ja) mondani (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · pt dar a entender (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · io implikar (to have as a consequence) · bg означавам (to have as a consequence) · is gefa í skyn (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · hu implikál (to have as a consequence) · tr ima etmek (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · hu magában foglal (to have as a consequence) · de implizieren (to have as a consequence) · hu utal (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · gd ciallaich (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · nl inhouden (to have as a consequence) · th หมายความ (to suggest by a logical inference) · vi bao hàm (to have as a consequence) · nl impliceren (to have as a consequence) · be намякну́ць (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · pt implicar (to have as a consequence) · nl impliceren (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · uk натякати (to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement) · nn innebere (to have as a consequence) · uk припускати (to have as a consequence)