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Imply vs Comprise - What's the difference?

imply | comprise | Synonyms |

Imply is a synonym of comprise.


As verbs the difference between imply and comprise

is that imply is (of a proposition) to have as a necessary consequence while comprise is to be made up of; to consist of (especially a comprehensive list of parts).

imply

English

Verb

(en-verb)
  • (of a proposition) to have as a necessary consequence
  • The proposition that "all dogs are mammals" implies that my dog is a mammal
  • (of a person) to suggest by logical inference
  • When I state that your dog is brown, I am not implying that all dogs are brown
  • (of a person or proposition) to hint; to insinuate; to suggest tacitly and avoid a direct statement
  • What do you mean "we need to be more careful with hygiene"? Are you implying that I don't wash my hands?
  • (archaic) to enfold, entangle.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.iv:
  • 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) . See

    Synonyms

    * (to have as a necessary consequence) entail * (to suggest tacitly) allude, hint, insinuate, suggest

    See also

    * connotation * entail

    comprise

    English

    Verb

    (compris)
  • To be made up of; to consist of (especially a comprehensive list of parts).
  • :
  • :
    However, the passive voice of comprise must be employed carefully to make sense. Phrases such as "animals and cages are comprised by zoos" or "pitchers, catchers, and fielders are comprised by baseball teams" highlight the difficulty.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 10, author=David Ornstein, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Arsenal 1-0 Everton , passage=Arsenal were playing without a recognised full-back - their defence comprising four centre-halves - and the lack of width was hindering their progress.}}
  • To include, contain or embrace.
  • :
  • To compose, to constitute. See usage note below.
  • :
  • :
  • *1657 , (Isaac Barrow), (translation), Prop. XXX
  • *:"Seeing then the angles comprised of equal right lines are equal, we have found the angle FDE equal to the angle ABC."
  • *
  • *:Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with (by way of local colour) on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.
  • (lb) To include, contain, or be made up of ("open-ended", doesn't limit to the items listed; cf. compose , which is "closed" and limits to the items listed)
  • Usage notes

    * Traditionally, a team comprised its members, whereas the members composed'' the team. (The ''Associated Press Stylebook'' advises journalists to maintain this distinction.) The sense "compose, constitute" — as in "the members comprise the team" — is sometimes considered incorrect. According to '' also state that it is an increasingly frequent and accepted usage. * The use of "of" with the verb in the active (rather than passive) tense is always incorrect, hence *"the UK comprises of four countries" and *"four countries comprise of the UK" are incorrect.