Elucidate vs Imply - What's the difference?
elucidate | imply |
To make clear; to clarify; to shed light upon.
* 1817 , , Northanger Abbey , ch. 13:
* 1960 , "
* 2004 , David Bernstein, “
(of a proposition) to have as a necessary consequence
(of a person) to suggest by logical inference
(of a person or proposition) to hint; to insinuate; to suggest tacitly and avoid a direct statement
(archaic) to enfold, entangle.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.iv:
As verbs the difference between elucidate and imply
is that elucidate is to make clear; to clarify; to shed light upon while imply is (of a proposition) to have as a necessary consequence.elucidate
English
Verb
(elucidat)- The business, however, though not perfectly elucidated by this speech, soon ceased to be a puzzle.
Medicine: Unmasking the Brain," Time , 4 April:
- [P]hysicians at the annual meeting of the American Academy of General Practice were fascinated by a 3-ft. model showing the brain's components in 20 layers of translucent plastic, and wired for colored lights to elucidate some of its workings.
Philosophy Hitches a Ride With ‘The Sopranos’,” New York Times , 13 April (retrieved 19 Aug. 2009):
- The new Sopranos volume has 17 essays that examine the television show and elucidate concepts from classical philosophers, including Aristotle, Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Sun Tzu and Plato.
Synonyms
* explicate, illuminateDerived terms
* elucidation * elucidative * elucidator * elucidatoryimply
English
Verb
(en-verb)- The proposition that "all dogs are mammals" implies that my dog is a mammal
- When I state that your dog is brown, I am not implying that all dogs are brown
- What do you mean "we need to be more careful with hygiene"? Are you implying that I don't wash my hands?
- And in his bosome secretly there lay / An hatefull Snake, the which his taile vptyes / In many folds, and mortall sting implyes .