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infer
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
infer
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
only
▪ For the other families, however, association with the duke can be inferred only from grants made after his accession.
▪ The date of these events can be inferred only by the episcopal chronology of the bishops of the eastern Angles.
■ NOUN
fact
▪ Negligence may be inferred from the fact that the product left the manufacturer in a defective state.
▪ But he couldn't infer the facts of consciousness.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ From archaeological evidence we can reasonably infer that these people used stone cutting tools.
▪ From this, astronomers can infer the presence of many more "black holes".
▪ It is easy to infer that the marriage was not a very happy one.
▪ It seems reasonable to infer that the cause was not sabotage but a simple accident.
▪ We can infer from the archaeological evidence that there was slavery in Carthage.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Infer

Infer \In*fer"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Inferred; p. pr. & vb. n. Inferring.] [L. inferre to bring into, bring forward, occasion, infer; pref. in- in + ferre to carry, bring: cf. F. inf['e]rer. See 1 st Bear.]

  1. To bring on; to induce; to occasion. [Obs.]
    --Harvey.

  2. To offer, as violence. [Obs.]
    --Spenser.

  3. To bring forward, or employ as an argument; to adduce; to allege; to offer. [Obs.]

    Full well hath Clifford played the orator, Inferring arguments of mighty force.
    --Shak.

  4. To derive by deduction or by induction; to conclude or surmise from facts or premises; to accept or derive, as a consequence, conclusion, or probability; as, I inferred his determination from his silence.

    To infer is nothing but by virtue of one proposition laid down as true, to draw in another as true.
    --Locke.

    Such opportunities always infer obligations.
    --Atterbury.

  5. To show; to manifest; to prove. [Obs.]

    The first part is not the proof of the second, but rather contrariwise, the second inferreth well the first.
    --Sir T. More.

    This doth infer the zeal I had to see him.
    --Shak.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
infer

1520s, from Latin inferre "bring into, carry in; deduce, infer, conclude, draw an inference; bring against," from in- "in" (see in- (2)) + ferre "carry, bear," from PIE *bher- (1) "to bear, to carry, to take" (cognates: Sanskrit bharati "carries;" Avestan baraiti "carries;" Old Persian barantiy "they carry;" Armenian berem "I carry;" Greek pherein "to carry;" Old Irish beru/berim "I catch, I bring forth;" Gothic bairan "to carry;" Old English and Old High German beran, Old Norse bera "barrow;" Old Church Slavonic birati "to take;" Russian brat' "to take," bremya "a burden"). Sense of "draw a conclusion" is first attested 1520s.

Wiktionary
infer

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To introduce (something) as a reasoned conclusion; to conclude by reasoning or deduction, as from premises or evidence. (from 16th c.) 2 (context transitive English) To lead to (something) as a consequence; to imply. (Now often considered incorrect, especially with a person as subject.) (from 16th c.) 3 (context obsolete English) To cause, inflict (something) (term: upon) or (term: to) someone. (16th-18th c.) 4 (context obsolete English) To introduce (a subject) in speaking, writing etc.; to bring in. (16th–18th c.)

WordNet
infer
  1. v. reason by deduction; establish by deduction [syn: deduce, deduct, derive]

  2. draw from specific cases for more general cases [syn: generalize, generalise, extrapolate]

  3. conclude by reasoning; in logic [syn: deduce]

  4. guess correctly; solve by guessing; "He guessed the right number of beans in the jar and won the prize" [syn: guess]

  5. believe to be the case; "I understand you have no previous experience?" [syn: understand]

  6. [also: inferring, inferred]

Usage examples of "infer".

From this fact we may reasonably infer that Ahau does not belong to the column.

To say that a mental shock was the cause of what I inferred - that last straw which sent me racing out of the lonely Akeley farmhouse and through the wild domed hills of Vermont in a commandeered motor at night - is to ignore the plainest facts of my final experience.

There were several huge police dogs on the lawn, squatting near a pleasant-faced man with a close-cropped grey beard whom I took to be Akeley himself - his own photographer, one might infer from the tube-connected bulb in his right hand.

We infer that this was the case, because two leaves on plants growing out of doors, had their angles above the horizon measured in the middle of the day and at 9 to about 10 P.

Better that I or my friend should die than protract existence through accumulated years of torture upon animals whose exquisite suffering we cannot fail to infer, even though they may have neither voice nor feature to express it.

That Little Arcady was unequal to this broader view, however, was to be inferred from comments made in the hearing of and often, in truth, meant for the ears of Solon Denney.

Navy SEALS have the reputation of being the baddest of the bad in the Special Forces world, where bad inferred supreme competence rather than a capacity for malice.

From footprints in the bankside mud and other such evidence, Daniel could infer that bucket-brigades had been formed to wet down the sail-cloth and perhaps to attack the central fire.

It must not be inferred that the classic influence of David and Ingres disappeared from view with the coming of the romanticists, the Fontainebleau landscapists, and the Barbizon painters.

THE SEMI-CLASSICISTS: It must not be inferred that the classic influence of David and Ingres disappeared from view with the coming of the romanticists, the Fontainebleau landscapists, and the Barbizon painters.

On the other hand, Rance, as may be inferred, was inwardly rejoicing, though when he perceived that Nick was eyeing him steadily he was careful to lower his eyes lest the little barkeeper should see the triumph shining beneath them.

Just what they were can best be inferred by consulting his cashbook, since the lectures themselves were not written out and all memoranda concerning them have disappeared.

Leguminosae, Malvaceae, Cucurbitaceae and Gramineae, we may infer that this character is common to the roots of most seedling plants.

I dropped the subject, inferring with some satisfaction that young Danaus was illicit.

Whatever their function may be, they are not necessary for the secretion of a digestive fluid, or for absorption, or for the communication of a motor impulse to other parts of the leaf, as we may infer from the structure of the glands in some other genera of the Droseraceae.