| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | suggest; indicate |
| Synonyms: | acquaint, adumbrate, advise, allude to, angle, apprise, bring up, broach, coax, connote, cue, drop, expose, fish*, foreshadow, give an inkling, impart, imply, infer, inform, insinuate, intimate, jog memory, leak*, let it be known, let out of bag, make*, mention, point, prefigure, press, prompt, put flea in ear, recall, refer to, remind, say in passing, shadow, signify, solicit, spring, tip off, tip one's hand, touch on, whisper, wink |
| Main Entry: | imply |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | indicate, mean |
| Synonyms: | betoken, connote, denote, designate, entail, evidence, give a hint, hint, import, include, insinuate, intend, intimate, involve, mention, point to, presuppose, refer, signify, suggest |
| Notes: | a speaker or writer implies, a hearer or reader infers, and implications are incorporated in statements while inferences are deduced from statements; imply means 'suggest indirectly that something is true' while infer means 'conclude or deduce something is true' and, further, to imply is to suggest or throw out a suggestion while to infer is to include or take in a suggestion infer means 'to deduce, reason' and imply means 'to hint at, suggest' |
| Antonyms: | define, explicate, express, state |
| Main Entry: | impute |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | attribute |
| Synonyms: | accredit, accuse, adduce, ascribe, assign, blame, brand, censure, charge, credit, hang something on, hint, indict, insinuate, intimate, lay, pin on, refer, reference, stigmatize |
| Antonyms: | defend, guard, help, protect |
| Main Entry: | indicate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | signify, display |
| Synonyms: | add up to, announce, argue, attest, augur, be symptomatic, bespeak, betoken, button down, card, connote, demonstrate, denote, designate, evidence, evince, express, finger, hint, illustrate, imply, import, intimate, make, manifest, mark, mean, name, peg, pin down, pinpoint*, point out, point to, prove, read, record, register, reveal, show, sign, signal, slot, specify, suggest, symbolize, tab, tag, testify, witness |
| Antonyms: | conceal, hide, mislead |
| Main Entry: | informal |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | casual, simple |
| Synonyms: | breezy, colloquial, congenial, cool*, democratic, down home, easy, easygoing, everyday, extempore, familiar, folksy, frank, free, free-and-easy, homey, improv, inconspicuous, intimate, laid back, loose, low-pressure, mellow, mixed, motley, natural, off-the-cuff, open, ordinary, relaxed, spontaneous, sporty, straightforward, throwaway, unceremonious, unconstrained, unconventional, unfussy, unofficial, unrestrained, urbane, without ceremony |
| Antonyms: | buttoned-up, ceremonious, dressed-up, formal, official, rigid, stiff |
| Main Entry: | inherent |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | basic, hereditary |
| Synonyms: | built-in, characteristic, congenital, connate, constitutional, deep-rooted, deep-seated, distinctive, elementary, essential, fixed, fundamental, genetic, immanent, implicit, in the grain, inborn, inbred, inbuilt, indigenous, indispensable, individual, indwelling, ingrained, inherited, innate, inner, instinctive, integral, integrated, internal, intimate, intrinsic, inward, latent, native, natural, original, part and parcel, resident, running in the family, subjective, unalienable |
| Notes: | the word innate means 'inborn' and should apply to living things; inherent is 'essential, intrinsic' and applies best to nonliving things like ideas |
| Antonyms: | acquired, added, external, extrinsic, incidental, learned |
| Main Entry: | inner |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | central, middle physically |
| Synonyms: | close, constitutional, essential, familiar, focal, inherent, innermore, inside, interior, internal, intestinal, intimate, intrinsic, inward, nuclear |
| Antonyms: | exterior, external, outer, outside |
| Main Entry: | inner |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | mental, private |
| Synonyms: | central, concealed, deep-rooted, deep-seated, emotional, esoteric, essential, focal, gut, hidden, individual, inherent, innate, inside, interior, internal, intimate, intrinsic, intuitive, inward, personal, psychological, repressed, secret, spiritual, subconscious, unrevealed, visceral, viscerous |
| Antonyms: | outer, physical |
| Main Entry: | insinuate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | hint, suggest |
| Synonyms: | allude, ascribe, connote, imply, impute, indicate, intimate, mention, propose, purport, refer, signify |
| Antonyms: | conceal, hide, withhold |