Library / English Dictionary

IMPLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: implied   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Express or state indirectly

Synonyms:

connote; imply

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "imply" is one way to...):

evince; express; show (give expression to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

implication (a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred)

implicative (tending to suggest or imply)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Suggest as a logically necessary consequence; in logic

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "imply" is one way to...):

evince; express; show (give expression to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "imply"):

presuppose; suppose (require as a necessary antecedent or precondition)

intimate; suggest (imply as a possibility)

connote; predicate (involve as a necessary condition of consequence; as in logic)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

implication (a logical relation between propositions p and q of the form 'if p then q'; if p is true then q cannot be false)

implicative (tending to suggest or imply)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Have as a logical consequence

Example:

The water shortage means that we have to stop taking long showers

Synonyms:

entail; imply; mean

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "imply" is one way to...):

necessitate (cause to be a concomitant)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

implication (something that is inferred (deduced or entailed or implied))

implicative (tending to suggest or imply)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Have as a necessary feature

Example:

This decision involves many changes

Synonyms:

imply; involve

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "imply" is one way to...):

feature; have (have as a feature)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "imply"):

carry (be necessarily associated with or result in or involve)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

implication (something that is inferred (deduced or entailed or implied))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Suggest that someone is guilty

Synonyms:

imply; incriminate; inculpate

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "imply" is one way to...):

evoke; paint a picture; suggest (call to mind)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

implication (an accusation that brings into intimate and usually incriminating connection)

implication (a relation implicated by virtue of involvement or close connection (especially an incriminating involvement))

Credits

 Context examples: 

I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for satisfaction than his words alone would imply.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The unusual position of the planet implies that at some point after the host star became a white dwarf, the planet moved closer to it.

(First Giant Planet around White Dwarf Found, ESO)

She would not hand him a stereotyped rejection slip, nor would she inform him that lack of preference for his work did not necessarily imply lack of merit in his work.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The presence of a tumor in patients with this form of encephalitis implies that the latter is a paraneoplastic syndrome.

(Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis, NCI Thesaurus)

A logarithmic ratio unit (base-10 logarithms) used to express relative magnitude of a physical quantity (usually power or intensity) in comparison with a specified or implied reference level.

(Bel, NCI Thesaurus)

Mercury stands out from the other Solar System terrestrial planets, showing a very high fraction of iron and implying it formed in a different way.

(Mercury Not as Rare as Previously Thought, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

He might be jealous of her brother as a rival, but if more had seemed implied, the fault must have been in her misapprehension.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

EXAMPLE(S): BID = Two times per day, at unspecified times (does not necessarily imply that these are 12 hours apart) Q12H = Every twelve hours

(Defined Activity Repeat Frequency Code, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

I thought it had been only a joke, but so serious a question seems to imply more; and I must beg, therefore, that you will not deceive yourself any longer.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Furthermore, zinc deficiency does not necessarily imply a dietary deficiency—and could result instead from problems with absorption in the gut, for example.

(Zinc Deficiency during Pregnancy Linked to Autism in Babies, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)