implied

1. 1
   adjective

   Suggested or hinted at without being stated directly.

   The contract carried an implied obligation to keep the property in good repair.

   Her long silence felt like implied consent to the proposal.

   Similarimplicit, tacit, unspoken, unstated, understood

   Oppositeexplicit, express, stated, direct

   Note

   Here the participle has settled into an adjective that usually stands before its noun: implied disapproval, an implied promise. It can even be graded, as in more implied and most implied. In this use nothing is being done; the disapproval simply goes unspoken. Compare the verb form, where someone does the implying: she implied that she disapproved.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of imply.

   The report implied serious problems with the company's budget.

   By saying nothing at all, she implied agreement with the plan.

   Note

   Imply forms its past the regular way, turning the final y to i before -ed. One spelling serves both she implied and it was implied. The meaning depends on which use of imply is in play. Premises can imply a result as a necessary consequence, while a speaker implies something by hinting. The old meaning 'enfold, entangle' is archaic and belongs to older texts.

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