Imply

How to spell imply

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce imply

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does imply mean?

1. verbTo suggest or indicate something indirectly without stating it openly.

Imply in a sentence

• The manager's silence seemed to imply that the deal had collapsed.

• The figures in the report imply a steady decline in sales.

Where does imply come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Imply descends from the Latin verb implicare, which literally meant 'to fold in' or 'to entangle', built from the prefix in- 'in' and plicare 'to fold'. English took it in during the late 1300s through Old French emplier, and at first it carried the older physical sense of enfolding or involving something. Over time the idea of folding a meaning inside one's words shifted into the modern abstract sense: to wrap up a suggestion so that it is contained but not openly stated. The same plicare root surfaces in a whole family of relatives, including 'implicate', 'complicate', 'reply' and 'pliable', all of which trade on the notion of folding or bending. Knowing that the second half is the 'ply' of folding (and not 'plie' or 'plye') is a handy anchor for the spelling.

How the word is built

• im- (in, into)
• ply (from Latin plicare: to fold)