- 1to reach an opinion or decide that something is true on the basis of information that is available synonym deduce infer something (from something) Much of the meaning must be inferred from the context. Readers are left to infer the killer’s motives. infer that… It is reasonable to infer that the government knew about these deals. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbreasonably, correctly, incorrectly, … verb + infercan, be possible to, be difficult to, … prepositionfrom See full entry
- 2infer (that)… | infer something (non-standard) to suggest indirectly that something is true Are you inferring (that) I’m not capable of doing the job? Which Word?infer / imply Infer and imply have opposite meanings. The two words can describe the same event, but from different points of view. If a speaker or writer implies something, they suggest it without saying it directly:The article implied that the pilot was responsible for the accident. If you infer something from what a speaker or writer says, you come to the conclusion that this is what he or she means:I inferred from the article that the pilot was responsible for the accident. Infer is now often used with the same meaning as imply. However, many people consider that a sentence such asAre you inferring that I’m a liar? is incorrect, although it is fairly common in speech. More Like This Consonant-doubling verbs bob, club, dub, grab, rub, sob, throb kid, nod, pad, plod, prod, shred, skid, thud beg, blog, bug, drag, drug, flag, hug, jog, log, mug, nag, plug bar, confer, infer, occur, prefer, refer, star, stir, transfer acquit, admit, allot, chat, clot, commit, jut, knit, pat, regret, rot, spot, submit (in British English:) appal, cancel, channel, control, counsel, enrol, equal, excel, fuel, fulfil, label, level, marvel, model, pedal, quarrel, signal, travelSee worksheet. Word Originlate 15th cent. (in the sense ‘bring about, inflict’): from Latin inferre ‘bring in, bring about’ (in medieval Latin ‘deduce’), from in- ‘into’ + ferre ‘bring’.Extra examples From this study we can reasonably infer that this characteristic is inherited. It is difficult to infer anything from such evidence. It can be inferred from the evidence that the killer was quite a young man. It is reasonable to infer that the government knew all about this. Much of the meaning can be inferred from the context. What can we infer about the state of mind of the writer?
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BrE BrE//ɪnˈfɜː(r)//; NAmE NAmE//ɪnˈfɜːr//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they infer BrE BrE//ɪnˈfɜː(r)//; NAmE NAmE//ɪnˈfɜːr//
he / she / it infers BrE BrE//ɪnˈfɜːz//; NAmE NAmE//ɪnˈfɜːrz//
past simple inferred BrE BrE//ɪnˈfɜːd//; NAmE NAmE//ɪnˈfɜːrd//
past participle inferred BrE BrE//ɪnˈfɜːd//; NAmE NAmE//ɪnˈfɜːrd//
-ing form inferring BrE BrE//ɪnˈfɜːrɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//ɪnˈfɜːrɪŋ//
Check pronunciation: infer
