infer
v.to reach a conclusion based on the information you have, even if it is not stated directly. You use this when you read between the lines to understand a hidden meaning.
v.to deduce or conclude information from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements. Transitive; requires a direct object or a 'that' clause.
“I can infer from your silence that you are unhappy.”
“Readers must often infer the character's true motivations by observing their actions rather than listening to their dialogue.”
“While the report never explicitly blames the management, one can easily infer a lack of oversight from the detailed timeline of the financial discrepancies.”
The verb is transitive and often takes a 'that' clause or a direct object.
infer vs imply — Imply is the act of sending a hidden message; infer is the act of decoding it.
Learners often confuse 'infer' with 'implied'. The speaker implies (suggests); the listener infers (deduces).
“Once a spear phisher infers a user's relationships on Yelp, they can send scam texts or emails to that person's friends, Leng says.”
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.