Imply

Definitions: Imply

Imply

Verb

1. Express or state indirectly.

2. Suggest as a logically necessary consequence; in logic.

3. Have as a logical consequence; "The water shortage means that we have to stop taking long showers".

4. Suggest that someone is guilty.

5. Have as a necessary feature or consequence; entail; "This decision involves many changes".

Date "imply" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

Note: Imply \Im*ply"\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Implied; present participle verb or noun Implying.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Imply

Synonyms: connote (v), entail (v), incriminate (v), inculpate (v), involve (v), mean (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Evidence	Verb: be evidence; Noun: evince, show, betoken, tell of; indicate; (denote); imply, involve, argue, bespeak, breathe.
Imagination	Verb: mean, signify, express; import, purport; convey, imply, breathe, indicate, bespeak, bear a sense; tell of, speak of; touch on; point to, allude to; drive at; involve; (latency); declare; (affirm).
Latency Implication	Involve, imply, understand, allude to, infer, leave an inference; entail; whisper; (conceal).
Probability	Verb: be probable; Adjective: give color to, lend color to; point to; imply; (evidence); bid fair; (promise); stand fair for; stand a good chance, run a good chance.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Hot? Do you mean to imply stolen? (Trading Places; writing credit: Timothy Harris; Herschel Weingrod)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	There, it is true, men may be deceived and are deceived, but there error is venerable, so much heroism does it imply.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		The word tumor does not always imply cancer. (references)
		If a product is not mentioned, this does not mean or imply that the product is unsatisfactory. (references)
		This may imply that impulse noise above a certain critical level results in acoustic trauma from which the ear cannot recover. (references)
Business		However, U.S. investment does not necessarily imply use of U.S.-manufactured equipment. (references)
		Regional differences in needs and development require different approaches and imply different opportunities. (references)
		German efforts to privatize the energy, telecommunications and transportation sectors are being assessed by numerous American firms because of the attractive opportunities they imply. (references)
Civil Liberties	Jordan	The Government stated that the church was free to open under a different name that would not imply affiliation with the Orthodox Church. (references)
	Hong Kong	RTHK declined to change its practice but stated publicly that its treatment of the subject did not imply that Taiwan is an independent sovereign state. (references)
Economic History	Cote D'ivoire	Consequently, poor balance of payments performance does not imply convertibility risk. (references)
Human Rights	Guatemala	The decisions of the IACHR and the Court imply that the state, not the individuals implicated in the case, are to be tried by the court. (references)
	India	Deaths in police custody, which typically occur within hours or days of initial detention, more clearly imply violent abuse and torture. (references)
Trade	Argentina	Their entry does not imply that their final destination is for consumption. (references)
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	FRYING-:PAN:, n. One part of the penal apparatus employed in that punitive institution, a woman's kitchen. The frying-pan was invented by Calvin, and by him used in cooking span-long infants that had died without baptism; and observing one day the horrible torment of a tramp who had incautiously pulled a fried babe from the waste-dump and devoured it, it occurred to the great divine to rob death of its terrors by introducing the frying-pan into every household in Geneva. Thence it spread to all corners of the world, and has been of invaluable assistance in the propagation of his sombre faith. The following lines (said to be from the pen of his Grace Bishop Potter) seem to imply that the usefulness of this utensil is not limited to this world; but as the consequences of its employment in this life reach over into the life to come, so also itself may be found on the other side, rewarding its devotees: Old Nick was summoned to the skies. Said Peter: "Your intentions Are good, but you lack enterprise Concerning new inventions. "Now, broiling in an ancient plan Of torment, but I hear it Reported that the frying-pan Sears best the wicked spirit. "Go get one -- fill it up with fat -- Fry sinners brown and good in't." "I know a trick worth two o' that," Said Nick -- "I'll cook their food in't."
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
James Monroe	1817-1825	In making this remark I do not wish to be understood to imply that an unvaried prosperity is to be seen in every interest of this great community.
Herbert C. Hoover	1929-1933	Self-government does not and should not imply the use of political agencies alone.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Imply" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 69.47% of the time. "Imply" is used about 1,475 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	69.47%	1,025	7,240
Lexical Verb (base form)	30.53%	451	12,908
Total	100.00%	1,475	N/A

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "imply"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		beteken (mean, signify). (various references)

Albanian		përfshij (add in, comprehend, comprise, contain, count in, cover, embrace, include, incorporate, involve, mix in, reach, span, store, subsume, sweep), lë të kuptohet (hint, hint at, insinuate). (various references)

Arabic		‏لمح (allude, behold, catch, catch sight of, descry, espy, glance at, glimpse, hint, see, sight, spy, suggest, twig), ‏عنى (attend, denote, import, look after, manage, mean, see, signify, take care of, watch), ‏عرض (array, bid, breadth, broaden, demo, display, evince, exhibit, expose, exposition, exposure, feature, hang, hang out, hold out, indication, introduction, lineup, mount, offer, offering, overture, pageant, parade, predispose, present, presentation, presenting, produce, proffer, propound, recital, retrace, review, set, set out, setting, show, state, statement, subject, submit, surrey, symptom, trot out, widen, width), ‏إفترض ضمنا, ‏إقتضى ضمنا (implicate, presuppose), ‏أوحى إلى (reveal). (various references)

Bulgarian		съдържам (comprise, contain, encompass, hold, receive), означавам (amount, bespeak, betoken, connotate, denote, import, indicate, intend, involve, mean, purport, represent, signify, spell, typify), знача (denote, intend, involve, mean, purport, signify, sound, stand for), заключавам в себе си, загатвам (allude, ask a riddle, hint at, infer), предполагам (assume, believe, conjecture, divine, expect, guess, imagine, implicate, postulate, presume, presuppose, reckon, suppose, suspect, take, take a notion, think, think for, ween), подмятам (dandle, intimate, slip in, throw out, throw up, toss up), искам да кажа (mean), имам за предпоставка (implicate). (various references)

Chinese		暗示 (Allude, Alluded, Alluding, Cue, Hinted, Hinting, implied, implies, Implying, suggestive, Suggestiveness), 意味著 (mean, signify), 意味 (significance). (various references)

Czech		zahrnovat (bombard, comprehend, comprise, contain, embody, embrace, encompass, envisage, subsume), obsahovat (comprehend, comprise, contain, encompass, hold, include), naznaèovat (denote, insinuate, moot). (various references)

Danish		betyde (mean, signify). (various references)

Dutch		insluiten (include, lock up, put away, shut up, stow, surround), impliceren. (various references)

Esperanto		implici, signifi (mean, signify). (various references)

Faeroese		týða (decipher, mean, signify, translate), merkja (mean, signify), fevna útyvir. (various references)

Farsi		مطلبی رارساندن (Intimate), ضمنافهماندن , اشاره کردن (Abode, Allude, Hint, Insinuate, Mention, Motion, Nudge, Sign), اشاره داشتن بر, رساندن (Broadcast, Convey, Extend, Forward, Give, Impart, Putin, Supply, Transmit, Understand), دلالت ضمنی کردن بر (Connote). (various references)

Finnish		merkitä (denote, indicate, lay out, make a note of, mark, mark out, mean, scribe, signify, subscribe, trace, write down). (various references)

French		signifier (import), impliquer (implicate). (various references)

German		bedeuten (betoken, bode, connote, denote, gesture, indicate, intimate, involve, mean, means, motion, motion to do, signify, stand for, symbolize). (various references)

Greek		υπονοώ. (various references)

Hebrew		ל�"שתמע (be heard, be interpreted, let us hear each other again, talk to you soon), לרמוז (allude, become intimate, hint, lead, mention, record, sound out, suggest, tip the wink). (various references)

Hungarian		utal (advert, allude, hint, refer, to advert, to denote, to imply, to instance, to refer, to remit), sejtet (anticipate, foreshadow, to adumbrate, to bode, to foreshadow, to imply, to intimate), magában foglal (to comprehend, to implicate, to include, to involve, to purport), magába foglal (contain, embrace, implicate, incorporate, involve, subsume, to comprehend, to comprise, to contain, to embody, to imply, to incorporate, to inhere, to subsume, to unite), maga után von (connote, entail, involve, to bring in its train, to entail, to implicate, to imply, to involve, to spell), jelent (denote, mean, meant, report, signify, to denote, to imply, to mean, to purport, to return), burkoltan céloz (to imply), beleért (to imply, to include, to reckon in), értelmileg tartalmaz (to imply). (various references)

Icelandic		merkja (mean, signify), þýða (account for, clarify, explain, interpret, mean, signify, translate). (various references)

Indonesian		membayangkiaskan. (various references)

Italian		significare (be, intend, matter, mean, purport, signify, spell). (various references)

Korean		함축하십시�". (various references)

Malay		berarti (mean, signify). (various references)

Manx		keeayllaghey (implication, import), filley stiagh (tuck in), cur keeayl er, cowraghey (betoken, betray, betray exhibit, blotch, blotch of colour, characterization, characterize, denotation, denote, gesture, log, mark, mark up, note, portend, represent, sign, signify, stamp, symbolize). (various references)

Norwegian		innebære (import), implisere (implicate), antyde (hint, infer, insinuate, intimate). (various references)

Papiamen		nifiká (mean, signify). (various references)

Pig Latin		implyay.(various references)

Polish		znaczyć, mieć znaczenie. (various references)

Portuguese		significar (add up to, amount, denote, import, intend for, matter, mean, purport, signify, spell, stand for), implicar (carry, connotate, connote, draw in, entangle, implicate, import, infer, involve, predicate, presupposed, purport, spell, suggest). (various references)

Romanian		însemna (badge, be, betoken, brand, chalk out, connote, denote, dint, excoriate, import, item, jot down, mark off, mean, note, record, scotch, signify, spell, stand, tick). (various references)

Russian		подразумевать (infer, mean, understand, understand by). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		uvijati (pack, scroll, wrap), sadržati u sebi, posredno izraziti, nagovestiti (bespeak, betoken, forebode, harbinger, hint, indicate, intimate). (various references)

Spanish		significar (add up to, amount, import, mean, purport, signify, spell, stand for). (various references)

Sranan		bodoy (mean, signify). (various references)

Swedish		innebära (amount to, connote, implicate, import, infer, intend), betyda (amount to, be of importance, import, matter, mean, signify, spell), antyda (adumbrate, foreshadow, give smb. to understand, hint, hint at, indicate, infer, insinuate, intimate, suggest). (various references)

Turkish		ima etmek (adumbrate, allude to, give smb. to understand, hint at, import, insinuate, intimate, mention, refer, shadow forth, shadow out, sign, suggest), içermek (comprise, contain, cover, embody, encapsulate, enclose, implicate, incapsulate, inclose, include, number, span, store, subsume), kastetmek (aim, aim at, allude, design, drive at, intend, mean, purpose, refer), gerektirmek (beggar, call for, entail, exact, indicate, involve, necessitate, require, suppose, take, want), demeye gelmek (add up to, boil down to, border, mean), demek olmak (add up to, boil down to, mean, signify, stand for), anlamına gelmek (add up, add up to, amount, be, connote, infer, mean, purport, read, signify, spell, stand for). (various references)

Turkmen		diяmek2 (mean, signify). (various references)

Ukranian		означати (bespeak, betoken, connotate, connote, denote, import, indicate, infer, mean, note, purport), натякати (allude, beat to drums, hint, insinuate, intimate, nudge), мати на увазі (bear in mind, keep in mind, mean). (various references)

Zulu		-sho (mean, signify). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	conclude, concludens, concludent, concluderet, concludes, concludi, concluditur, conclusae, concluserant, concluserat, concluserint, concluseris, concluserunt, conclusi, conclusis, conclusisset, conclusisti, conclusit, conclusus, conclususque, implicare. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "imply": implying. (additional references)
	Words ending with "imply": dimply, jimply, limply, oversimply, pimply, simply. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Imply" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: empl, empli, emply, Iapyx, iml, immply, Imoli, impl, implie, implier, implix, imploy, implu, implye, Impy, Imsl, inply, inpuy, Iphy, ipl, Iplib. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "imply" (pronounced i'mplī")
4	-m p l ī"	comply.
3	-p l ī"	apply, misapply, oversupply, ply, reply, resupply, supply.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "i-l-m-p-y"
	-1 letter: limp, limy, pily.
	-2 letters: imp, lip, mil, ply, yip.
	-3 letters: li, mi, my, pi.
	Words containing the letters "i-l-m-p-y"
	+1 letter: dimply, jimply, limply, limpsy, pimply, primly, simply.
	+2 letters: amplify, bumpily, campily, dumpily, emptily, jumpily, limpsey, lumpily, misplay, primely, slimpsy.
	+3 letters: frumpily, glumpily, grumpily, impishly, implying, impolicy, impurely, lampyrid, limpidly, lymphoid, misapply, misplays, mopingly, mopishly, multiply, olympiad, palimony, playtime, psyllium, ptyalism, simplify, skimpily.
	+4 letters: amblyopia, amblyopic, amphiboly, amplidyne, amylopsin, bumpkinly, complying, diplomacy, employing, exemplify, impiously, lampyrids, limpidity, lumpishly, lymphatic, micropyle, misemploy, misplayed, multicopy, mycophile, nymphalid, olympiads, optimally, palmistry, perilymph, playtimes, polyamide, polyamine, polygamic, polymeric, polymyxin, primality, primarily, psylliums, ptyalisms, pyramidal, sympodial.
	+5 letters: amblyopias, amplidynes, amplifying, amylopsins, biopolymer, blimpishly, compatibly, complexify, complexity, compliancy, complicacy, complicity, epididymal, episomally, hypolimnia, impalpably, impartibly, impassably, impassibly, impeccably, imperially, implacably, implicitly, impolitely, imposingly, impossibly, impotently, improbably, improperly, impudently, lycopodium, lymphatics, lymphokine, microphyll, micropylar, micropyles, misemploys, misplaying, multiparty, mycophiles, myopically, nymphalids, optimality, oversimply, perilymphs, phyllodium, playmaking, plyometric, polyamides, polyamines, polyatomic, polygamies, polygamist, polygamize, polymathic, polymerise, polymerism, polymerize, polymyxins, polynomial, polysemies, polytheism, primevally, proximally, simplicity, stepfamily, symphysial, temptingly.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.