implication
/ɪmplɪˈkeɪʃ(ə)n
/noun
1The conclusion that can be drawn from something although it is not explicitly stated: the implication is that no one person at the bank is responsible...
- Any implication that I am engaged in diversionary activity will be hotly denied.
- I don't disagree that economists said this, but his implication is that they were wrong.
- Most people would instinctively say no, and his implication in his article is that this crazy.
Synonyms
suggestion, inference, insinuation, innuendo, hint, intimation, imputation, indication;
connotation, overtone, undertone, hidden meaning, secondary meaning
1.1A likely consequence of something: many people are unaware of the implications of such reforms her victory had important political implications...
- Forget for a moment the political or even economic implications of the shifts in population.
- Are you interested in the political implications of weblogs and social software?
- Finally, we discuss the practical implications of our findings for Cerulean Warbler conservation.
Synonyms
consequence, result, ramification, repercussion, reverberation, effect
2 [mass noun] The action or state of being involved in something: our implication in the problems...
- What's underlying this essay, instead, is Chuck's own implication in the whole scheme.
Synonyms
incrimination, involvement, connection, entanglement, association
archaic inculpation
Phrases
by implication
Derivatives
implicational
- This is contrasted with claims that structural complexity asymmetries alone can explain implicational universals.
- Ever since Greenberg's seminal paper on word-order universals, the implicational universal has been a major tool for expressing generalisations within the framework of typology.
- But there are two subsystems that are dedicated to making sense of the whole thing, which they call the propositional and the implicational subsystems.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'entwining, being entwined'): from Latin implicatio(n-), from the verb implicare (see implicate).