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Impose vs Infer - What's the difference?

impose | infer |

As verbs the difference between impose and infer

is that impose is while infer is to introduce (something) as a reasoned conclusion; to conclude by reasoning or deduction, as from premises or evidence.

impose

English

Verb

(impos)
  • To establish or apply by authority.
  • * Milton
  • Death is the penalty imposed .
    Congress imposed new tariffs.
  • * 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/nyregion/new-jersey-continues-to-cope-with-hurricane-sandy.html?hp]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):
  • Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.
  • to be an inconvenience
  • I don't wish to impose upon you.
  • to enforce: compel to behave in a certain way
  • Social relations impose courtesy
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=December 10 , author=Arindam Rej , title=Norwich 4 - 2 Newcastle , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Norwich soon began imposing themselves on that patched-up defence with Holt having their best early chance, only to see it blocked by Simpson.}}
  • To practice a trick or deception.
  • To lay on, as the hands, in the religious rites of confirmation and ordination.
  • To arrange in proper order on a table of stone or metal and lock up in a chase for printing; said of columns or pages of type, forms, etc.
  • Derived terms

    * imposition * superimpose * imposure

    infer

    English

    Verb

    (inferr)
  • To introduce (something) as a reasoned conclusion; to conclude by reasoning or deduction, as from premises or evidence.
  • * 2010 , "Keep calm, but don't carry on", The Economist , 7 Oct 2010:
  • It is dangerous to infer too much from martial bluster in British politics: at the first hint of trouble, channelling Churchill is a default tactic for beleaguered leaders of all sorts.
  • To lead to (something) as a consequence; to imply. (Now often considered incorrect, especially with a person as subject.)
  • *, II.3:
  • These and a thousand like propositions, which concurre in this purpose, do evidently inferre .
  • * Shakespeare
  • This doth infer the zeal I had to see him.
  • * Sir Thomas More
  • The first part is not the proof of the second, but rather contrariwise, the second inferreth well the first.
  • (obsolete) To cause, inflict (something) (upon) or (to) someone.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.8:
  • faire Serena.
  • (obsolete) To introduce (a subject) in speaking, writing etc.; to bring in.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Full well hath Clifford played the orator, / Inferring arguments of mighty force.

    Usage notes

    There are two ways in which the word "infer" is sometimes used as if it meant "imply". "Implication" is done by a person when making a "statement", whereas "inference" is done to a proposition after it had already been made or assumed. Secondly, the word "infer" can sometimes be used to mean "allude" or "express" in a suggestive manner rather than as a direct "statement". Using the word "infer" in this sense is now generally considered incorrect. [http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000232.htm

    Synonyms

    * assume, conclude, deduce, construe

    Anagrams

    * ----