US /ɪnˈfɝ/ UK /ɪnˈfɜː/
verb Freq #30840

Meanings

  1. 1
    verb

    To reach an opinion or conclusion from the information you have.

    From her smile, I inferred that the news was good.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 verb · to reach an opinion or... concludededucegather
Word family
Forms inferredinferringinfers
Derived forms inferabilityinferableinferenceinferrableinferralinferrermisinferreinfersubinferuninferant
Related forms illationillative

Etymology

From Latin inferō, from Latin in- (“in, at, on; into”) + Latin ferō (“bear, carry; suffer”) (cognate to Old English beran, whence English bear), from Proto-Italic *ferō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti (“to bear, carry”), from the root *bʰer-. Literally “carry forward”, equivalent to “bear in”, as in concluding from a premise. Doublet of inbear.

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