infer Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb reason by deduction; establish by deduction
    derive; deduce; deduct.
  2. verb draw from specific cases for more general cases
    extrapolate; generalize; generalise.
  3. verb conclude by reasoning; in logic
    deduce.
  4. verb guess correctly; solve by guessing
    guess.
    • He guessed the right number of beans in the jar and won the prize
  5. verb believe to be the case
    understand.
    • I understand you have no previous experience?

WordNet

In*fer" transitive verb
Etymology
L. inferre to bring into, bring forward, occasion, infer; pref. in- in + ferre to carry, bring: cf. F. inférer. See 1 st Bear.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Inferred ; present participle & verbal noun Inferring
Definitions
  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; to imply; 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.

Webster 1913