Sir Thomas More is the first writer known to have used both infer and imply in their approved senses in 1528 (with infer meaning "to deduce from facts" and imply meaning "to hint at"). He is also the first to have used infer in a sense close in meaning to imply (1533). Both of these uses of infer coexisted without comment until some time around the end of World War I. Since then, the "indicate" and "hint or suggest" meanings of infer have been frequently condemned as an undesirable blurring of a useful distinction. The actual blurring has been done by the commentators. The "indicate" sense of infer, descended from More's use of 1533, does not occur with a personal subject. When objections arose, they were to a use with a personal subject (which is now considered a use of the "suggest, hint" sense of infer). Since dictionaries did not recognize this use specifically, the objectors assumed that the "indicate" sense was the one they found illogical, even though it had been in respectable use for four centuries. The actual usage condemned was a spoken one never used in logical discourse. At present the condemned "suggest, hint" sense is found in print chiefly in letters to the editor and other informal prose, not in serious intellectual writing. The controversy over the "suggest, hint" sense has apparently reduced the frequency with which the "indicate" sense of infer is used.
infer, deduce, conclude, judge, gather mean to arrive at a mental conclusion.
infer implies arriving at a conclusion by reasoning from evidence; if the evidence is slight, the term comes close to surmise.
from that remark, I inferred that they knew each otherdeduce often adds to infer the special implication of drawing a particular inference from a generalization.
denied we could deduce anything important from human mortalityconclude implies arriving at a necessary inference at the end of a chain of reasoning.
concluded that only the accused could be guiltyjudge stresses a weighing of the evidence on which a conclusion is based.
judge people by their actionsgather suggests an intuitive forming of a conclusion from implications.
gathered their desire to be alone without a wordQuotes--> May I remark here that although I seem to infer that private communication is an unholy mess of grammatical barbarism, … such is not my intent … — V. Louise Higgins , "Approaching Usage in the Classroom," English Journal , March 1960
… I infer that Swinburne found an adequate outlet for the creative impulse in his poetry … — T. S. Eliot , The Sacred Wood , 1920
Lucy … reseated herself with an alacrity and cheerfulness which seemed to infer that she could taste no greater delight … — Jane Austen , Sense and Sensibility , 1811
Extra Examples--> It's difficult to infer how these changes will affect ordinary citizens. Are you inferring that I'm wrong?
Recent Examples on the Web Previous work had to take down the sculpture first and infer from a pile of bricks what the sculpture may have looked like. — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 5 Sep. 2024 Where cars repeatedly slow and stop, the model infers an intersection and calculates the exact timing of lights. — Lauren Leffer, Scientific American, 15 Aug. 2024 Comparing the two measurements allows scientists to infer how the diamonds’ spin affects the quantum information contained in their defects. — Michael Irving, New Atlas, 14 Aug. 2024 Here, there are no factual allegations from which the Court can reasonably infer that IUH's policies, or lack thereof, have created an identifiable impending or ongoing threat to Indiana residents' privacy interests. — Kayla Dwyer, The Indianapolis Star, 13 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for infer
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'infer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.