2023-03-30 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด I – Imply - infer

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Dictionary.com

ออกเสียง Imply = ‘im-PLAHY’

ออกเสียง infer = ‘in-FUR’

 

Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression

imply & infer

To imply is to suggest a meaning 

only hinted at, not explicitly stated. 

 

To infer is to draw a conclusion from 

statements, evidence, or circumstances.

“Your remark implies that Bill was untruthful.”

“The officer inferred from the fingerprints that 

the killer was left-handed.”

 

Common Errors in English Usage Dictionary

imply & infer

These two words, which originally 

had quite distinct meanings, 

have become so blended together 

that most people no longer distinguish between them.

 

If you want to avoid irritating the rest of us, use “imply” 

when something is being suggested 

without being explicitly stated 

and “infer” when someone is trying to 

arrive at a conclusion based on evidence. 

“Imply” is more assertive, active: 

I imply that you need to revise your paper; 

and, based on my hints, 

you infer that I didn’t think highly of your first draft. 

 

The A-Z of Correct English Common Errors Dictionary

imply or infer?

To IMPLY something is to hint at it: 

She IMPLIED that there were strong moral objections to his appointment but didn’t say so in so many words. 

To INFER is to draw a conclusion: 

Am I to INFER from what you say that he is unsuitable for the post? 

 

Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree

imply

signify or mean; to suggest: 

Her words imply a lack of caring.

Not to be confused with:

infer – deduce, reason, guess; draw a conclusion: 

They inferred her dislike from her cold reply.

Farlex Trivia Dictionary.
imply

imply, infer 

- A speaker or writer implies, 

- a hearer or reader infers; 

implications are incorporated in statements, 

while inferences are deduced from statements. 

 

Imply means "suggest indirectly that something is true," while infer means "conclude or deduce something is true"; furthermore, 

to imply is to suggest or throw out a suggestion, 

while to infer is to include or take in a suggestion.

 

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary

in•fer′a•ble, in•fer′ri•ble, adj.

in•fer′a•bly, adv.

in•fer′rer, n.

usage: Many usage guides condemn infer 

when used to mean “to hint or suggest,” 

as in The next speaker rejected the proposal, inferring that it was made solely to embarrass the government, 

 

holding the position that 

the proper word for this meaning is imply, 

and that to use infer for it is to lose a valuable distinction. 

 

Many speakers and writers observe 

this claimed distinction scrupulously. 

 

Nevertheless, from its earliest appearance in English 

infer has had the sense given in definition 3 above, 

a meaning that overlaps with the second definition of imply 

when the subject is a condition, circumstance, 

or the like that leads inevitably to a certain conclusion or point.

 

Collins COBUILD English Usage

Imply – infer

1. 'imply'

If you imply that something is the case, 

you suggest that it is the case without actually saying so.

Somehow he implied that he was the one who had done all the work.

Her tone implied that her time and her patience were limited.

 

2. 'infer'

If you infer that something is the case, 

you decide that it is 

the case on the basis of the information that you have.

I inferred from what she said that you have not been well.

It is only from doing experiments that cause-and-effect relationships can be inferred.

 

COLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Inferably adv.

Inferrer n

USAGE FOR INFER

The use of infer to mean imply is 

becoming more and more common in both speech and writing. 

There is nevertheless a useful distinction between the two 

which many people would be in favour of maintaining.

 

To infer means `to deduce', and is used in 

the construction to infer something from something : 

I inferred from what she said that she had not been well . 

To imply (sense 1) means `to suggest, to insinuate' 

and is normally followed by a clause: 

are you implying that I was responsible for the mistake?

 

Dictionary.com

USAGE NOTE FOR INFER

Infer has been used to mean “to hint or suggest” 

since the 16th century by speakers and writers 

of unquestioned ability and eminence: 

The next speaker criticized the proposal, 

inferring that it was made solely to embarrass the government. 

 

Despite its long history, many usage guides 

condemn the use, maintaining that 

the proper word for the intended sense is imply 

and that to use infer is to lose a valuable distinction 

between the two words.

Although the claimed distinction has probably 

existed chiefly in the pronouncements of usage guides, 

and although the use of infer to mean “to suggest” 

usually produces no ambiguity, 

the distinction too has a long history 

and is widely observed by many speakers and writers.

 

Dictionary.com

HISTORICAL USAGE OF INFER

The English verb infer has always been used in logic 

to mean “to conclude by reasoning or from evidence.” 

It comes from the Latin verb inferre 

“to carry in, enter, introduce, inflict,” 

composed of the prefix in- “in, into” 

and ferre “to carry, bear.” 

Inferre meaning “to conclude, draw an inference, 

infer” is very rare in Latin, 

occurring only in the writings of Cicero (106–43 b.c.), 

Roman statesman and man of letters, 

and the great, commonsensical Roman rhetorician Quintilian 

(who lived about a.d. 35–95).

 

Dictionary.com

Imply vs Infer

What's the difference between infer and imply?

Infer most commonly means to guess 

or use reasoning to come to a conclusion 

based on what has been suggested. 

To imply is to indicate or suggest something 

without actually stating it.

 

Infer and imply can be confused because 

they’re often used at opposite ends of the same situation. 

When someone implies something 

(suggests it without saying it explicitly), 

you have to infer their meaning 

(conclude what it is based on the hints that have been given).

For example, 

you might infer that your friend wants cake for their birthday because they keep talking about how much they like cake 

and reminding you that their birthday is coming up. 

Your friend didn’t actually ask for cake, 

but they implied that they want it by giving you hints. 

You used these hints to infer that they want cake.

 

Of course, there are situations in which you 

might infer something when nothing was implied 

or nothing was intended to be implied.

Probably due to the association between the two words,

infer is sometimes used to mean the same thing as imply

—to hint or suggest. 

Even though this can be confusing, 

the meaning of infer can usually be easily inferred 

from the context in which it’s used.

 

Here’s an example of infer and imply 

used correctly in a sentence.

Example: 

Even though he only implied that he may be in trouble, 

we correctly inferred that he was.

 

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Infer vs. Imply: Usage Guide

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.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,

in·fer′a·ble adj.

in·fer′a·bly adv.

in·fer′rer n.

Usage Note: 

Infer is sometimes confused with imply, 

but the distinction careful writers make between these words 

is a useful one. 

When we say that a speaker or sentence implies something, 

we mean that it is conveyed or suggested 

without being stated outright: 

 

When the mayor said that she would not rule out a business tax increase, she implied (not inferred) that some taxes might be raised. 

Inference, on the other hand, is the activity performed 

by a reader or interpreter in drawing conclusions 

that are not explicit in what is said: 

 

When the mayor said that she would not rule out a tax increase, we inferred that she had consulted with new financial advisers, since her old advisers favored tax reductions.