Imply vs Cannot - What's the difference?
imply | cannot |
(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:
not (am/is/are unable to).
Am/are/is forbidden or not permitted to
* 1668 December 19, , “Mr.'' Alexander Seaton ''contra'' Menzies” in ''The Deci?ions of the Lords of Council & Se??ion I (Edinburgh, 1683),
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=
, volume=189, issue=2, page=10, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title=
As verbs the difference between imply and cannot
is that imply is (of a proposition) to have as a necessary consequence while cannot is not (am/is/are unable to).As a noun cannot is
something that cannot be done.imply
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 .
Usage notes
* This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) . SeeSynonyms
* (to have as a necessary consequence) entail * (to suggest tacitly) allude, hint, insinuate, suggestSee also
* connotation * entailExternal links
* *cannot
English
Verb
(head)page 575
- The Pupil after his Pupillarity, had granted a Di?charge to one of the Co-tutors, which did extingui?h the whole Debt of that Co-tutor, and con?equently of all the re?t, they being all correi debendi , lyable by one individual Obligation, which cannot be Di?charged as to one, and ?tand as to all the re?t.
Karen McVeigh
US rules human genes can't be patented, passage=The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.}}