infer
Formsinfers, inferring, inferred
Often confused with imply
- 1To reach a conclusion by reasoning from premises or evidence rather than from a direct statement.
Scientists infer the age of distant stars from the light they emit.
Readers are left to infer the narrator's guilt from scattered hints.
Note
Behind the reasoning is a picture of carrying: Latin inferō joins in- "into" to ferō "bear, carry," the root English shares in bear. A conclusion is brought in from somewhere, so the verb pairs naturally with from. The Economist warned in 2010 against inferring too much from martial bluster. The reader or listener does the inferring; the speaker or the evidence does the implying.
- 2To suggest or imply something as a consequence, leaving it to be understood rather than directly stated.
The wording can infer obligations that neither party discussed openly.
Her careful phrasing inferred more doubt than she was willing to express.
Note
Usage guides object to this sense because it blurs a useful division of labor: a statement implies, and a listener infers. The use is old. Thomas More wrote around 1535 that the second part "inferreth well" the first, and Shakespeare's Second Part of Henry the Fourth has "This doth infer the zeal I had to see him." In careful modern writing, choose imply, suggest or entail, and keep infer for the reasoning sense.
- 3To bring in or introduce a subject in speech or writing; to adduce.
Full well hath Clifford played the orator, / Inferring arguments of mighty force.
c. 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt,”Note
When Shakespeare's Third Part of Henry the Sixth praises Clifford for "inferring arguments of mighty force," nothing is being concluded. The arguments are simply being brought forward. This literal "bring in" is a trap for modern readers of early texts, who will want to hear the reasoning sense in it. Today you would say adduce, raise or put forward.
Less common meaning
- 4To cause or inflict something, such as harm or injury, upon a person.
Note
Spenser's Faerie Queene (1596) shows the verb at its most Latin. Serena flees, "afeard / Of villany to be to her inferd," which means villainy brought against her. The construction is passive, with to marking the victim. Modern English says inflict or cause. The sense survives only on the page of Renaissance verse, where it keeps the old "carrying" picture behind the reasoning verb.
Use it in a sentence
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Origin
From Latin inferō, combining in- ("in, into") with ferō ("bear, carry"), which goes back through Proto-Italic *ferō to the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰer- ("to bear, carry"). It literally meant "carry forward", as in drawing a conclusion from a premise.