infer
verb OPAL W
/ɪnˈfɜː(r)/
/ɪnˈfɜːr/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they infer | /ɪnˈfɜː(r)/ /ɪnˈfɜːr/ |
| he / she / it infers | /ɪnˈfɜːz/ /ɪnˈfɜːrz/ |
| past simple inferred | /ɪnˈfɜːd/ /ɪnˈfɜːrd/ |
| past participle inferred | /ɪnˈfɜːd/ /ɪnˈfɜːrd/ |
| -ing form inferring | /ɪnˈfɜːrɪŋ/ /ɪnˈfɜːrɪŋ/ |
- to 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.
Extra ExamplesTopics Opinion and argumentb2- 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.
- What can we infer about the state of mind of the writer?
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- reasonably
- correctly
- incorrectly
- …
- can
- be possible to
- be difficult to
- …
- from
- infer (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 / implyinfer / implyTopics Suggestions and advicec2- 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.
- I inferred from the article that the pilot was responsible for the accident.
- Infer is now often used in informal speech with the same meaning as imply:
- Are you inferring that I’m a liar?
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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’.