Imply or infer: which is correct?
Correct
imply (to suggest without saying — the speaker) / infer (to conclude from evidence — the listener)
Avoid
infer (for the speaker hinting: "are you inferring that I lied?")
Avoid
imply (for drawing a conclusion)
Summary
Correct: imply (to suggest without saying — the speaker) / infer (to conclude from evidence — the listener) — Avoid: infer (for the speaker hinting: "are you inferring that I lied?") / imply (for drawing a conclusion). Imply = to suggest something indirectly; infer = to work something out from what was said or shown.
- Part of speech
- verb
- Source
- Merriam-Webster
Why
Merriam-Webster: the speaker or writer implies; the listener or reader infers. Using infer for imply is recorded as long-standing but is still regarded as an error in edited prose.
Examples
- Her tone implied that she was unhappy with the result.
- From her tone, I inferred that she was unhappy.
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- Merriam-Webster / Oxford
- Spelling authority
- Merriam-Webster · Oxford English Dictionary / Oxford spelling · SCOWL
- Commonly confused and non-standard forms
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- Dictionary
- Hunspell en_US / en_GB / en_AU / en_CA · Dictionary license: MIT AND BSD (SCOWL combined licence)