Infer vs Indicate - What's the difference?
infer | indicate |
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:
To lead to (something) as a consequence; to imply. (Now often considered incorrect, especially with a person as subject.)
*, II.3:
* Shakespeare
* Sir Thomas More
(obsolete) To cause, inflict (something) (upon) or (to) someone.
* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.8:
(obsolete) To introduce (a subject) in speaking, writing etc.; to bring in.
* Shakespeare
To point out; to discover; to direct to a knowledge of; to show; to make known.
:
*
*:With just the turn of a shoulder she indicated the water front, where, at the end of the dock on which they stood, lay the good ship, Mount Vernon , river packet, the black smoke already pouring from her stacks.
*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=20 *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
, title= To show or manifest by symptoms; to point to as the proper remedies.
:
To signal in a vehicle the desire to turn right or left.
To investigate the condition or power of, as of steam engine, by means of an indicator.
*1903', "How to '''indicate an engine" in ''The Star Improved Steam Engine Indicator , p.64:
*:To a person who is familiar with the use of an indicator, whether it be of one make or another, it is needless to give instructions as to how an engine should be indicated ,.
*1905 , Power , Vol.25, p.448:
*:I found it fully as easy to indicate an engine at a speed of 320 to 340 revolutions as at 80.
*1905 , Central Station , Vol.5, p.76:
*:An indicator will give the working of these valves at all times and soon return its cost in higher engine efficiency. The day has passed when it was only the expert who could indicate an engine or afford to own an indicator.
As verbs the difference between infer and indicate
is that infer is to introduce (something) as a reasoned conclusion; to conclude by reasoning or deduction, as from premises or evidence while indicate is to point out; to discover; to direct to a knowledge of; to show; to make known.infer
English
Verb
(inferr)- 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.
- These and a thousand like propositions, which concurre in this purpose, do evidently inferre .
- This doth infer the zeal I had to see him.
- The first part is not the proof of the second, but rather contrariwise, the second inferreth well the first.
- faire Serena.
- 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, construeAnagrams
* ----indicate
English
Verb
(indicat)citation, passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.
Katrina G. Claw
Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm, volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions, which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.}}