Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Imply
Im-ply′
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Implied
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Implying
.] 1.
To infold or involve; to wrap up.
[Obs.]
“His head in curls implied.” Chapman.
2.
To involve in substance or essence, or by fair inference, or by construction of law, when not include virtually;
as, war
. implies
fightingWhere a malicious act is proved, a malicious intention is
implied
. Bp. Sherlock.
When a man employs a laborer to work for him, . . . the act of hiring
implies
an obligation and a promise that he shall pay him a reasonable reward for his services. Blackstone.
3.
To refer, ascribe, or attribute.
[Obs.]
Whence might this distaste arise?
Syn. – To involve; include; comprise; import; mean; denote; signify; betoken. See
Involve
. Webster 1828 Edition
Imply
IMPLY'
,Verb.
T.
1.
Literally, to infold or involve; to wrap up.2.
To involve or contain in substance or essence, or by fair inference, or by construction of law, when not expressed in words. Where a malicious act is proved, a malicious intention is implied.
When a man employs a laborer to work for him, or an agent to transact business for him, the act of hiring implies an obligation,and a promise that he shall pay him a reasonable reward for his services. Contracts are express or implied; express contracts are those in which an agreement or promise is expressed by words or in writing; implied contracts are such as arise from the presumption of law, or the justice and reason of the transaction.
Definition 2024
imply
imply
English
Verb
imply (third-person singular simple present implies, present participle implying, simple past and past participle implied)
- (transitive, of a proposition) to have as a necessary consequence
- The proposition that "all dogs are mammals" implies that my dog is a mammal
- (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
- (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?
- (archaic) to enfold, entangle.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.iv:
- 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, The Faerie Queene, I.iv:
Usage notes
- This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Synonyms
Related terms
- implicate
- implication
- implicative
- implicit
- implicitness
- implision
Translations
to have as a consequence
to suggest by a logical inference
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to express suggestively rather than as a direct statement
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