Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Infer |
InferVerb1. Reason by deduction; establish by deduction. 2. Draw from specific cases for more general cases. 3. Conclude by reasoning; in logic. 4. Guess correctly; solve by guessing; "He guessed the right number of beans in the jar and won the prize". 5. Believe to be the case; "I understand you have no previous experience?". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "infer" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Note: Infer \In*fer"\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Inferred; present participle verb or noun Inferring.]. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
To infer is to draw a conclusion. To infer that X is to conclude that X is true; an inference is a conclusion drawn from a set of facts or circumstances. Much of the science of logic explores the validity or invalidity of inferences.The difference between implying and inferring is this: an author who writes that all men are mortal and Socrates is a man implies that Socrates is mortal; a reader who is so subtle as to notice that the author implies that and to consciously think "Therefore Socrates is mortal" infers that Socrates is mortal.
In reading, inferences are made about parts of the text where the meaning is implied but not explicit. Assesments of the ability to make inferences about written text are used to measure reading skill.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Inference."
Synonyms: InferSynonyms: deduce (v), deduct (v), derive (v), extrapolate (v), gather (v), generalise (v), generalize (v), guess (v), understand (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Latency Implication | Involve, imply, understand, allude to, infer, leave an inference; entail; whisper; (conceal). |
Reasoning, | Contend, take one's stand upon, insist, lay stress on; infer. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Infer |
| English words defined with "infer": assumption ♦ clewless, clueless ♦ Inferred, Inferring, It seems ♦ Misinfer ♦ premise, premiss ♦ Subibfer, surmise ♦ To collect one's self, To read between the lines. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "infer": arc shooting ♦ Cogito ergo sum ♦ Dammaged Goods ♦ expert system ♦ inference rule ♦ Minotti ♦ past climate analogs ♦ seismic reflection or refraction line, symbolic inference ♦ type inference ♦ uniformitarian principle ♦ vane anemometer. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "infer": syllogism. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Infer" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. Latin (bring in, import, inflict, obtain). |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | ![]() | Temperature contours showing continuity of Mid-Atlantic Ridge From Atlas of the METEOR Expedition Combining sparse depth readings and temperature to infer bathymetry. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | Perhaps we need only to know how his shores trend and his adjacent country or circumstances, to infer his depth and concealed bottom |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | It is reasonable to infer that triglyceride plays an important role in the regulation of HDL metabolism. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Infer" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 86.39% of the time. "Infer" is used about 316 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) | 86.39% | 273 | 17,765 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 13.29% | 42 | 52,864 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.32% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 316 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "infer": infer from ♦ infer smth.. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| 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. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
guide indiana infer jones mac off strategy | 16 |
infer | 14 |
infer red | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "infer"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | tregoj (argue, bear, bespeak, betoken, bring out, connotate, connote, denote, designate, direct, display, establish, evidence, evince, exhibit, expose, express oneself, extend, finger, give away, indicate, make out, manifest, narrate, note, point out, present, proclaim, produce, profess, prove, read, recite, relate, show, show round, spiel, spin out, tell, tell tales, yield), nxjerr përfundim (conclude, gather), nxjerr (belch, conclude, derive, discharge, discover, display, distil, distill, divulge, drag out, draw, educe, eject, elicit, emit, evolve, excrete, exhale, exhibit, exhume, expel, extract, extricate, extrude, feature, fish out, gain, generate, get off, get out, give away, give off, hatch, heave, hustle, incubate, issue, lay out, leak, let off, let out, liberate, lift out, make out, move out, obtrude, out, pan out, pop, puff, pull, pull out, raise, release, rip out, rout, run against, secrete, send, spit, stick, stick out, take out, tear off, turf out, turn away, uncase, unearth, utter, vomit, whiffle), konkludoj (conclude), dëshmoj (bear witness, evidence, indicate, testify, witness). (various references) | |
Arabic | عقد إستدلالات, خمن (appraise, estimate, evaluate, guess, riddle, size up, speculate, suppose, surmise), إستنتج (conclude, deduce, deduct, derive, draw, draw conclusions, educe, estimate, induce, put two and two together, ratiocinate, understand), إستدل (deduce), ظهر (appear, arise, back, brighten up, bring out, come to light, declare, declassify, define, denote, develop, evidence, exercise, exhibit, express, feature, image, indicate, loom, manifest, mark, note, occur, outcrop, parade, peep, play up, poke, pop up, proclaim, produce, reveal, show, show up, spring, surface, turn up, walk), دل (announce, betoken, bode, denote, designate, indicate, proclaim, promise, read, signify, speak). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | заключавам (conclude, educe, gather, induce, reason), загатвам (allude, ask a riddle, hint at, imply), подразбирам (get the idea, intend, mean, understand). (various references) | |
Chinese | 推論 , 推断 (generalise, generalised, generalize, generalized, Generalizing, inference, Inferred, Inferring). (various references) | |
Czech | usoudit (gather), odvozovat (derive), naznaèit (indicate, intimate, suggest, throw out). (various references) | |
Danish | slutte (abstract, deduce, gather, induce). (various references) | |
Dutch | concluderen (abstract, gather, induce), besluiten (abstract, accomodate, decide, end, finish, gather, induce, terminate), afleiden (abduce, abduct, abstract, deduce, derive, distract, divert, entertain, extract, gather, induce). (various references) | |
Esperanto | konkludi (abstract, gather, induce). (various references) | |
Faeroese | koma til niðurløgu (abstract, gather, induce). (various references) | |
Farsi | پی بردن به (Spell, Trace), استنتاج کردن (Conclude, Derive, Evolve, Induce, Subsume), استنباطکردن (Construe, Deduce, Divine, Educe, Induct), اشاره کردن بر (Indicate, Suggest). (various references) | |
Finnish | tehdä johtopäätös (abstract, conclude, deduce, draw a conclusion, gather, induce). (various references) | |
French | conclure (induce). (various references) | |
German | folgern (abstract, conclude, deduce, gather, induce, reason, to conclude, to deduce, to infer), schließen (abstract, bolt, clause, close, close down, closing, conclude, contract, derive, enter into, form, gather, induce, lock, make, reason, shut, shut down, to clause, to close, to conclude (with), to shut, wind up). (various references) | |
Greek | συμπεραίνω (conclude, conjecture, deduce, presume). (various references) | |
Hungarian | magával von (to infer), következtet (conclude, deduce, draw conclusions, to conclude, to conjecture, to deduce, to evolve, to infer, to judge, to reason). (various references) | |
Indonesian | menyimpulkan, berarti (be significant, denote, import, mean). (various references) | |
Italian | dedurre (abstract, conclude, deduce, deduct, elicit, gather, induce), concludere (abstract, break up, clinch, close, complete, conclude, deduce, do, end up, finalize, finish, gather, induce, make, make a contract, put through, tie up, top off, wrap up). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 拝察 (surmise, sympathize), 察知 (sense). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | さっち (sense), はいさつ (surmise, sympathize). (various references) | |
Manx | tayrn veih, infearaghey. (various references) | |
Norwegian | slutte seg til (enlist, join), antyde (hint, imply, insinuate, intimate). (various references) | |
Papiamen | konklú (abstract, gather, induce). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | inferay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | inferir (abstract, below, collect, conclude, deduce, educe, follow, gather, imply, induce), implicar (carry, connotate, connote, draw in, entangle, implicate, imply, import, involve, predicate, presuppose, purport, spell, suggest), demonstrar (approve, argue, demonstrate, evidence, evince, prove, set forth, set out), concluir por inferncia. (various references) | |
Romanian | indica (denote, designate, indicate, Mark, point out, record, set, shape, show, sign, signify, tell), trage concluzia (argue), presupune (assume, calculate, conjecture, expect, fancy oneself, feel, imagine, imply, presume, suppose, surmise, suspect), necesita (ask, call, claim, demand, have, involve, necessitate, need, require, want), determina (abstract, appoint, ascertain, bring, call forth, cause, conditional, convince, define, determine, dictate, draw, entail, establish, find, fix, gather, govern, induce, lead, make, mark out, modify, persuade, procure, produce, prompt, provoke, reason, urge), deduce (argue, collect, conclude, deduce, deduct, draw, educe, evolve, gather, induce), conchide (conclude, gather). (various references) | |
Russian | выводить заключение (educe), заключать (conclude, confine, encompass, establish, inclose, inclosing, include, nail down, transact), заключить (clinch a bargain, conclude), подразумевать (imply, mean, understand, understand by), делать вывод (conclude, deduce, draw a conclusion, draw conclusion, gather, reason). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | izvoditi zaključak (deduce), zaključiti (close, conclude, gather, induce, sign, take out). (various references) | |
Spanish | inferir (deduce, derive, inflict). (various references) | |
Swedish | innebära (amount to, connote, implicate, imply, import, intend). (various references) | |
Turkish | sonuç çıkarmak (conclude, deduce, educe, induce, make inferences, reason), anlamına gelmek (add up, add up to, amount, be, connote, imply, mean, purport, read, signify, spell, stand for), anlam çıkarmak (get a grip on, judge, make out). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | робити висновок (conclude, deduce, draw a conclusion, educe, elicit, gather), означати (bespeak, betoken, connotate, connote, denote, imply, import, indicate, mean, note, purport), припускати (accept, acknowledge, admit, concede, conjecture, presume, propose, surmise, understand). (various references) | |
Welsh | casglu (accumulate, amass, collect, gather). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | collecta, collectae, collectam, collecti, collectis, collecto, collectos, collectum, collectus, collegerimus, collegeris, collegerunt, collegi, collegissent, collegisset, collegisti, collegit, colleximus, collexistis, colligam, colligant, colligas, colligat, colligatis, colligatur, colligebant, colligebat, colligendas, colligendi, colligendum, colligens, colligent, colligentem, colligentes, colligentur, colligere, colligerent, colligeret, colligeris, colliges, colligesque, colliget, colligetur, colligimus, colligit, colligite, colligitur, colligo, colligunt, colliguntur, conclude, concludens, concludent, concluderet, concludes, concludi, concluditur, conclusae, concluserant, concluserat, concluserint, concluseris, concluserunt, conclusi, conclusis, conclusisset, conclusisti, conclusit, conclusus, conclususque, coniecto, conligare, inferre. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | John Chapter 20, Verse 27 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Eita legei tw qwma fere ton daktulon sou wde kai ide taV ceiraV mou kai fere thn ceira sou kai bale eiV thn pleuran mou kai mh ginou apistoV alla pistoV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Deinde dicit Thomae infer digitum tuum huc et vide manus meas et adfer manum tuam et mitte in latus meum et noli esse incredulus sed fidelis |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | Syððen he sayde to thomase. Doþine finger hyder. & ge-seoh mine handæ. & nim þine hand & do on mine siden. & ne beoþu un-ge-leafful. ac ge-leafful. |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Afterward he seith to Thomas, Putte in here thi fyngur, and se myn hondis, and putte hidur thin hond, and putte in to my side, and nyle thou be vnbileueful, but feithful. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | After that sayde he to Thomas: bringe thy fynger hether and se my hondes and bringe thy honde and thrust it into my syde and be not faythlesse but belevynge. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | Then he said to Thomas, Put out your finger, and see my hands; and put your hand here into my side: and be no longer in doubt but have belief. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | John Chapter 20, Verse 27 |
| Cebuano | Ug siya miingon kang Tomas, "Ihikap dinhi ang imong tudlo, ug tan-awa ang akong mga kamot; ambi ang imong kamot ug ipasulod kini sa akong kilid. Ayaw na nianang pagkadili matinoohon, hinonoa magmatinoohon ka." |
| Chinese | 就 對 多 馬 說 、 伸 過 的 指 來 、 摸 ( 摸 原 文 作 看 ) 我 的 手 . 伸 出 的 手 來 、 探 入 我 的 肋 旁 . 不 要 疑 惑 、 總 要 信 。 |
| Croatian | Zatim æe Tomi: "Prinesi prst ovamo i pogledaj mi ruke! Prinesi ruku i stavi je u moj bok i ne budi nevjeran nego vjeran." |
| Danish | Derefter siger han til Thomas: "Ræk din Finger hid, og se mine Hænder, og ræk din Hånd hid, og stik den i min Side, og vær ikke vantro, men troende!" |
| Dutch | Daarna zeide Hij tot Thomas: Breng uw vinger hier, en zie Mijn handen, en breng uw hand, en steek ze in Mijn zijde; en zijt niet ongelovig, maar gelovig. |
| Finnish | Sitten hän sanoi Tuomaalle: "Ojenna sormesi tänne ja katso minun käsiäni, ja ojenna kätesi ja pistä se minun kylkeeni, äläkä ole epäuskoinen, vaan uskovainen". |
| French | Puis il dit Thomas: Avance ici ton doigt, et regarde mes mains; avance aussi ta main, et mets-la dans mon côté; et ne sois pas incrédule, mais crois. |
| German | Darnach spricht er zu Thomas: Reiche deinen Finger her und siehe meine Hände, und reiche dein Hand her und lege sie in meine Seite, und sei nicht ungläubig, sondern gläubig! |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Kemudian Yesus berkata kepada Tomas, "Lihatlah tangan-Ku, dan taruhlah jarimu di sini. Ulurkan tanganmu dan taruhlah di lambung-Ku. Jangan ragu-ragu lagi, tetapi percayalah!" |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Lalu Ia pun bersabda kepada Tomas, "Ulurkanlah jarimu, lihatlah tangan-Ku, dan ulurkanlah tanganmu serta letakkanlah di rusuk-Ku, dan janganlah engkau syak, melainkan yakinlah." |
| Maori | Katahi ia ka mea ki a Tamati, Totoro mai tou matihao, kia kite hoki koe i oku ringa; totoro mai hoki tou ringa, ka kuhu ki toku kaokao: aua e whakateka, engari me whakapono. |
| Norwegian | Derefter sier han til Tomas: Rekk din finger hit, og se mine hender, og rekk din hånd hit og stikk den i min side, og vær ikke vantro, men troende! |
| Portuguese | Depois disse a Tomé: Chega aqui o teu dedo, e vê as minhas mãos; chega a tua mão, e mete-a no meu lado; e não mais sejas incrédulo, mas crente. |
| Rumanian | Apoi a zis lui Toma: ,,Adu-yi degetul kncoace, wi uitq-te la mknile Mele; wi adu-yi mkna, wi pune -o kn coasta Mea; wi nu fi necredincios, ci credincios.`` |
| Russian | рПФПН ЗПЧПТЙФ жПНЕ: П"БК ЕТУФ ФЧПК УА"Б Й ПУНПФТЙ ТХЛЙ нПЙ; П"БК ТХЛХ ФЧПА Й ЧМПЦЙ Ч ТЕ'ТБ нПЙ; Й ОЕ 'Х"Ш ОЕЧЕТХАЭЙН, ОП ЧЕТХАЭЙН. |
| Shuar | Nuyá Tumasan Tímiayi "Winia uwejur iisam ame uwejem awaintiuata. Núnismek winia paerui uwejem awaintiuam Iistá. Tura arantutsuk nekas Enentáimtursata." |
| Spanish | Luego dijo a Tomás: --Pon tu dedo aquí y mira mis manos; pon acá tu mano y métela en mi costado; y no seas incrédulo sino creyente. |
| Swahili | Kisha akamwambia Thoma, "Lete kidole chako hapa uitazame mikono yangu; lete mkono wako ukautie ubavuni mwangu. Usiwe na mashaka, ila amini!" |
| Swedish | Sedan sade han till Tomas: "Räck hit dit finger, se här äro mina händer; och räck hit din hand, och stick den i min sida. Och tvivla icke, utan tro." |
| Uma | Oti toe, na'uli' mpo'uli' -ki Tomas: "Tu'u-mi karawe-nu hi rei, pai' hilo pakua' to hi pale-ku. Mai pale-nu, nupe'unco' hi rala jaloa to hi lumpeha-ku. Neo' -pi morara' nono-nu. Pangala' -mi!" |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "infer": inferable, inference, inferences, inferential, inferentially, inferior, inferiorities, inferiority, inferiorly, inferiors, infernal, infernally, inferno, infernos, inferred, inferrer, inferrers, inferrible, inferring, infers, infertile, infertilities, infertility. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "infer": coinfer, misinfer. (additional references) | |
Words containing "infer": coinferred, coinferring, coinfers, misinferred, misinferring, misinfers. (additional references) | |
| |
"Infer" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Einfuhr, Enefer, enfer, enfor, Iafei, ifar, iinfer, inder, inear, ineer, inef, ineft, ineq, iner, inerj, inerr, infa, infart, infe, infeed, infere, inferm, inferr, infid, infin, infir, infit, infore, infred, inher, inifer, inoffe, interf, interp, interr, interv, inve, inver, Jimfer, nifa, nifer, niffer, rinfer, uncfder, zinfer. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "infer" (pronounced i'nfer") |
| 3 | -n f er" | confer. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: finer. | |
| Words within the letters "e-f-i-n-r" | |
-1 letter: fern, fine, fire, firn, neif, reif, rein, rife. | |
-2 letters: ern, fen, fer, fie, fin, fir, ire, ref, rei, rif, rin. | |
-3 letters: ef, en, er, if, in, ne, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-f-i-n-r" | |
+1 letter: fainer, ferine, finder, finery, finger, friend, fringe, infare, infers, knifer, niffer, redfin, refind, refine. | |
+2 letters: bonfire, coinfer, conifer, definer, fainter, fancier, fawnier, fearing, feigner, fermion, fernier, finders, fingers, finnier, fireman, firemen, firepan, flinder, flinger, foreign, freeing, friends, fringed, fringes, funkier, funnier, gunfire, infares, inferno, infuser, kerfing, knifers, niffers, niftier, redfins, reefing, reffing, refinds, refined, refiner, refines, refrain, reunify, sniffer, snifter, unfired, unifier. | |
| 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. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Fiction 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Bible Trace 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.